


Patchwork Tales: A 9 Roleplay Compendium, Book 1

by TayerRoos



Category: 9 (2009)
Genre: 9 movie, Action, Action/Adventure, Adventure, Attempted Rape/Non-Con, Character Death, Colored Text, Consensual Underage Sex, Drama, Drug Use, Explicit Sexual Content, F/F, F/M, Family, Friendship, LGBTQ Themes, M/M, Molestation, Multi, Non-Human Humanoid Society, Original Character(s), Other, Post-Apocalypse, Roleplay Logs, Romance, Science Fiction, Shane Acker's 9, Slice of Life, Spiritual, Stitchpunk, Suicide Attempt, Teen Angst, Teen Romance, Teenage Drama, Thriller, Torture, Violence, Worldbuilding
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-08
Updated: 2020-09-09
Packaged: 2020-10-12 16:40:29
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 5
Words: 38,649
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20567531
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TayerRoos/pseuds/TayerRoos
Summary: Decades after the fall of humanity, the once still and quiet world slowly comes back to life with Stitchpunks and Machines. With all humans gone, Stitchpunks take their place to remake society within the Emptiness and the dangers it holds in its vast expanse. Embark on a journey weaving across many colonies, families, and individuals, through the lives of those whose threads of fate are woven together.A collection of an ongoing roleplay between Tal (talismanchaos.tumblr.com) and Bryer (unperson101.tumblr.com).





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> The following is a roleplay log between Tal (talismanchaos.tumblr.com) and Bryer (unperson101.tumblr.com), which makes this story and its format unique. Besides minor spelling corrections and clarifications, the RP have been largely left as-is. You get to experience the story just as we did writing it! The tags are the primary themes or major events in the story, but each chapter will have their individual warnings in the notes, so make sure to check them! Purple text represents Tal's replies, while teal text represents Bryer's replies.

Blake clutched his small, makeshift blade close to his chest as he wandered aimlessly in the empty wasteland. His gears felt like they were working overtime as he anxiously scanned the area for threats from under his hood. He had just been forced out of his little home by a crazy machine that burrowed under the ground and was half-expecting it to pop up under his feet and gobble him up at any moment.

Quite a ways away; Stratos and her liaison, Exos, were wandering the wastes. Partly to find materials, and partly because they had lost their way. They had stopped at a mound of junk and decided to see if they could find anything there. As Stratos carefully scrounged around, Exos waited, keeping watch for mechanical beasts.

Blake heard the shifting of material close by and tensed. Gears spinning fast, he was frozen, waiting to hear the tell-tale growl or hiss or whatever sound machines made, but it never came. Slowly unfreezing, curiosity began to grow. He slowly made his way to the pile of junk. He froze again when he spotted the two stitchpunks. Were they friendly? Was he willing to risk finding out?

Exos had her back to Blake.  
She was lazily looking around, seeming more bored than cautious. Stratos pulled out an object from the pile, causing some small debris to fall. Exos was alerted by the sound and looked back to see what happened, but caught a glimpse of Blake as she did. Her sight snapped back to his location, but she didn't say anything. She wasn't sure if Blake would be friendly, or even be a real stitchpunk but the clever lure of a monster.

It was a staring contest between Blake and Exos. It took quite a few moments of inner turmoil and back and forth with himself to find a voice and say, "Hello," quietly.

Exos still seemed leery but returned the greeting with low, "Hello."  
Stratos heard Exos and looked up to see what she wanted, then noticed Blake. "Oh!" Stratos exclaimed as she got up and brushed off some of the dirt that fell on her earlier. "Hello there. Who might you be?" she asked in a friendly and curious manner as she stood by Exos.

"I'm uh... I'm Blake.." The blade in his hand trembled as fear grew in his chest, but he tried to hide it. He didn't want to be the aggressor if things turned ugly. "And you are..?"

"Nice to meet you, Blake," Stratos said calmly, "my name is Stratos, and this is Exos."  
Exos still held an expression of suspicion towards Blake, taking note of his nervous tone. "May I ask where you came from?" Stratos asked, "are there others with you?"

"I uh... I came from that way." Blake gestured with his head behind him. "I'm alone..." His gaze lingered on the stitchpunks' bodies. To his standards, they were beautifully made, with perfect seams and a great attention to detail. He envied them in a way. His own body, hidden under the fabric of his coat, was patchy, with terrible stitch work and tears.

"Oh," Stratos said with concern. She reached a hand to her lower lip in a thoughtful manner as her optics shifted to the ground. Her gaze returned to him after a moment, "would you like to come with us then?" she offered.  
Exos glanced over at Stratos, seeming to be displeased by the idea.

Blake was shocked by the offer, and he was scared that it could be a trap. But Exos and Stratos seemed to be at the very least not aggressive or crazy. "Do you have a camp nearby?"

"Well... That's a bit of a problem actually..." Stratos said as she rolled her head and looked off to the side. She seemed embarrassed as she rubbed the back of her head, "you see. We may have- um. Gotten ourselves lost," she confessed with a nervous smile.  
A corner of Exos' mouth stretched over into a rather impatient frown as she crossed her arms.

Blake's spirits fell. He didn't want to have to make camp but it seemed like that would be the case, assuming he'd still want to travel with these stitchpunks. Sighing a little, he tilted his head from side to side, weighing his options. "We uh, we can make a new camp I suppose," he eventually said, deciding that he could trust them. For now.

"I suppose we'll have to. Since it's going to get dark soon," Stratos agreed as she looked up at the sky to see the slowly changing colors in the clouds.

Blake nodded. "Let's find a better place than this, yeah? It's pretty out in the open." He started looking around for a better rest spot for the group.

"Agreed. I believe there was a small crate back there," Stratos said as she pointed in the direction they had come from. In the distance she was pointing at there were more piles of debris and the remnants of a military jeep. "It seemed to be in good condition, so it should make for a decent shelter for the night. Plus there're more places to hide if we run into trouble," she added.

Blake started to climb the pile that Stratos and Exos were on top of. It was awkward for a moment, being so close to them now, but tried to hide the emotion under his hood as he looked in the direction of Stratos' pointing finger. "Yeah. Yeah that looks good, we can go there," he said gruffly, sheathing his knife silently.

"Alight, let's get going then," Stratos said, pleased that Blake was happy with her suggestion. "Be careful on the way down," she warned casually as she made her way down the pile.  
Exos was hesitant to go before Blake and gestured for him to go ahead of her. "After you," she said with a dry and quiet voice.

Blake nodded at the cautionary statement, taking his time to safely go down the mound. At the bottom, he dusted himself off and followed Stratos toward the crate.

Exos followed behind at a distance, keeping alert for signs of beasts.  
Stratos made a beeline to the crate, going slow enough to make sure the others were following.  
"Here we are. It's not much, but it's better than many places we had to camp out before," Stratos said as she stopped at where the crate sat.  
It was a simple wooden crate, no bigger than a shoe box. The crate was solidly buried in a pile of dirt, except for one side which had a broken-in hole big enough for the stitchpunks to walk in. The contents of the crate seemed to have been removed, for only some of the twine-like wood fiber packing was left inside.

Blake walked inside, and was pleasantly surprised at how good of a spot it was for the group. The fibrous clusters were going to make for a great makeshift bed. "It's perfect," he said quietly as he walked to one of the fiber bunches and hopped onto it, sinking deep into it. It was nice to have a “bed” to sleep on for once.

Stratos walked to the opening and smiled at how comfortable Blake looked. She was happy that they had met another stitchpunk who was able to be on their good graces.  
Exos joined her at the door and asked in a quiet tone, "Who'll be on first watch?"  
Stratos responded in an equally quiet whisper, "I'm still awake, so I'll take the first watch. I'll wake you when I grow tired."  
Exos nodded at this and took a spot with fibers that was away from Blake. She proceeded to bury herself in the twine fluff until she was in a nest-like bed, hidden from sight of on-lookers. Stratos stayed outside of the crate while the sun was still out. She mostly watched the churning clouds and sky change into deep oranges and vibrant pinks as golden beams of sunlight streamed across the scene.

Blake's sleep was the most peaceful it had been in months. He felt safe in this box and safe with these stitchpunks. They seemed to be kind so far, and he was losing his fear of trusting them. At their shift change, he woke, and watched Stratos return inside in the dim light of the moon, but soon she was lost in shadow and he closed his shutters to sleep again.

Exos gave her spot of fibers to Stratos before taking her shift.  
Stratos fell quickly to sleep in the quiet darkness and comfort of the nest.  
Exos clambered up the hill until she was at the top of the crate. There she kept watch in the pale moonlight and deep shadows of the night. She was much more alert now that she was in her preferred time of day. As Exos watched, she spotted beasts crossing the emptiness in the distance.  
The beasts didn't seem to care for the wreckage, unknowing that the stitchpunks were hiding in it, and kept on their path. The night was uneventful after that.  
It wasn't until morning light when Exos returned in hushed hurry and dragged the nest Stratos was sleeping in to the far end of the crate, next to Blake.  
Once done, she also draped mounds of fibers on the sleeping stitchpunks as she hid between their “beds” in order to hide herself.

Blake woke with the movement of Exos' covering of him. He suddenly felt smothered, and tried to take off the fibers she had placed upon him. "Hey, what the hell are you doing?" he hissed in a whisper.

"Shush and stay down!" Exos whispered back as she pulled the fibers back down on him. There were sounds of digging as some dirt tumbled past the crate's opening. Upon this Exos hid back down out of sight.

Blake froze when he heard the dirt moving outside. Instinct kicking in, he tried to be as a part of the fibers as possible. Whatever machine was outside, he hoped that it never ventured inside to sniff the group out.

The sounds of scratching and walking machinery seemed more menacing in the still air as the stitchpunks waited anxiously. A moment later there were thuds of feet landing hard on the ground. The beast must have leapt down from the hill to investigate the base. Its clicking joints faded in and out was it scavenged around the wreckage. Stratos woke when the beast started to inspect the outside of the box. She laid still as she shifted her sight, only to see wood fibers all around. She was worried about her companions, but stayed where she was. It'd do no good for any of them if she made a scene now.  
As the beast inspected the hole, it could be seen that it was too big to fit even its head inside. One of its optics peered inside the crate, causing the inside to be dimly lit in crimson light. The light could be seen in the thinner bunches of fibers.

Blake could see the dim red hue of the machine's optics filling the box, making his insides work double as fear truly set in. He tried his best to keep from shaking and even breathing. He could feel his insides starting to heat up though, which would eventually cause him to cough. A sound like that could end up being disastrous for everyone.

The beast didn't seem to notice anything move inside the crate and moved on to inspecting the ruined jeep. Stratos braved a peek by digging a small hole in the nest for her to see through. The beast was indeed away from the crate, and could be heard shuffling metallic pieces around outside. She let out a sigh of relief. "Okay, its alright to get up now, but stay quiet," she said in a soft whisper. She cautiously moved the fibers off of her to lower the amount of noise it'd make and looked around to assess the situation better. Exos stood up from her hiding place and helped uncover Blake.

Blake wanted to throw the fibers off of himself and sprint away from the box and machine as fast as possible, but he had enough self restraint to quietly uncover himself and step out of the mound. "Alright, where do you want to head now?" he whispered, his hand going into his coat to grab his knife.

"We're planning on finding our home again. The others must be so worried," Stratos whispered, showing great concern at the mentioning of others.  
Exos crept quietly to the opening to see if they can sneak under the beast's sight.  
The beast seemed decently distracted and had its back to them.  
"Come on, now's our chance," Exos quietly ushered them.

Blake nodded and without a second thought was out of the hole and running swiftly away from the beast. His grip was tight on his blade as he quietly sprinted, coat billowing behind him.

Exos let Stratos follow behind Blake before leaving the crate herself. While Stratos quietly ran after him, Exos lagged behind as she split her attention on where she was running and on the beast. She noticed that the beast was attempting to take parts from the jeep. Was it to replace a part, or to make a new beast with? These questions would have to wait as she stumbled a bit.  
Fortunately at that moment, the beast pulled something off, making a loud sound. The noise only made Stratos run faster in fear that the beast could be after them. Exos re-balanced herself and rushed to join the others.  
After a long while of running, Stratos called to the others, "L-let's stop here!" They had managed to reach a spot with rocks strewn about with dead grass. It wasn't much, but it did provide light cover that they could duck around to avoid being seen by any beasts.

Blake panted hard as he finally stopped and doubled over. The anxiety and exertion his body had just gone through made it feel like he was about to catch fire as his inner gears spun much too fast for much too long. His knife was still gripped tight in his grasp as he scanned the area for any danger. "That was... close.."

Stratos huffed as she tried to catch her breath. "I-indeed," she gasped out in agreement.  
Exos staggered over to a rock and flopped herself down in the shade it provided.  
As Stratos regained more controlled breaths, she went to Blake and asked, "Are you alright?”  
“Come. Let's sit in the shade," she offered, holding out a hand in case he needed help.

Blake nodded and smiled when he noticed Stratos' hand ready to help him. He shook his head though and straightened up, walking into the shade and sitting next to Exos.

Stratos returned the smile and rested her hand as he got up on his own. She walked over into the shade and sat down ladylike next to Exos' other side.  
Exos took a deep breath before sitting up. She kept her left leg outstretched and then bent the right, loosely hugging it in her arms. Things seemed pleasantly calm here as they sat in the cool shade.

Blake sat with his legs stretched out, his arms supporting his leaning body behind him. "So," he started, holding out the 'oh' sound for a little. "You guys still gonna' try looking for home?"

Stratos leaned forward a bit so she could face Blake as she spoke.  
"Oh, yes. I wouldn't see why we'd do anything else," she answered with a shrug. "That's where our family is, and I'm worried about them. Probably as much as they are for us," she added with a shy chuckle before sighing. It was clear that she was concerned, but there seemed to be more on her mind than just the emotional well-being of her clan.  
Exos remained silent as she listened to the conversations, tilting her head towards whomever was speaking.

Blake smiled at Stratos' optimism. She seemed to believe that they'd find their way home, soon even. Yet again, he was distracted by her body. The fabric, although a little dirty, looked so soft, and again, he noticed the perfect stitching and straight seams. An ache grew in his chest as he thought of how much he wanted a body like that.  
"Do you know what direction to go in?"

Stratos' face scrunched up when she realized, "Hm... No, I don't.”  
“But we'll see if we can figure that out," she said with a smile. She got up and brushed off the dirt on her legs. "Exos?" she asked in a manner that seemed to inquire if Exos would help or not.  
Exos let out a small sigh as she rolled her optics and got up, batting the dirt off herself. The two walked around until they found the tallest rock out of the bunch. With Exos' initial help, Stratos clambered up to the peak of the rock. There she stood, looking around with a hand shielding her optics from the sunlight. "Let's see..." she mumbled while Exos waited for her on a small plateau about halfway down from the peak.  
Exos stood with her arms crossed as she leaned against the rock and looked out for beasts.

Blake stood and followed but stayed at the base of the rocks. Looking up, he squinted to see Stratos silhouette against the bright sky. "You see anything useful?" he asked loudly. Secretly, he was excited to meet these new stitchpunks that were friends of these two. Maybe they would let him stay wherever they were. Maybe he would finally have a home.

Stratos took a while to answer, "I think I see something familiar!" she shouted back as she pointed towards the East.  
"What is it?" Exos asked as she carefully leaned over to the direction Stratos was pointing.  
"It's a bent power line tower. I remember seeing it when we were being carried away," Stratos answered.  
She carefully got down to the plateau, then proceeded to follow Exos down until they were both at the bottom and rejoined with Blake.  
"This is fantastic! All we have to do is get to that tower, turn the correct direction, and we'll eventually hit home again!" Stratos said with much enthusiasm.  
"Yeah... It's only miles away," Exos said with displeased sarcasm.  
"You exaggerate. It's not that far- although I suppose it is for a stitchpunk..." Stratos commented before rethinking what she had said.  
Exos' mouth stretched to one side, showing that this was a typical annoyance to her.

Blake watched the exchange between the two girls, his hope slowly fading. Miles was such a distance, and he wondered how far they could get without being driven off course again by some machine or other obstacle. Also, Stratos' wording made him wonder. Had she been a human before? "For a stitchpunk" sounded like it came from someone who wasn't one. But he'd ask about that later. Right now they needed to get moving. "Well, we're not gonna' get far if we don't head out now."

Stratos looked to him as his words broke her train of thought. "That's true. Progress isn't made by standing still," she agreed with a smile as they headed East.  
As they walked, Exos lingered behind while Stratos sauntered ahead.  
As she walked, Stratos would often look around, looking to see if she could find something useful.  
"We might be able to find something to speed up the process. Like a wheel or a barrel," she said out loud for the others to hear. "Maybe even a wagon, or maybe a sled would better? No..." she added as her mind trailed her off.

Blake could tell Stratos was trying to find something to ease Exos but it wasn't really working. He awkwardly walked between the two, hoping to also find something that might help speed up their journey, but also kept an eye out for machines. A hand rested on his blade more often than not, not wanting to be caught off guard by anything.

Stratos seemed to be too distracted by her thoughts at this point, and her paced slowed as she thought up scenario after scenario. One such was that they were lucky enough to find a tire, a box and a long ribbon. They would move the tire to the edge of a downward hill, tie the box to the inside of the tire, but leave the ends of the ribbon in the box.  
They'd then lay in the box and rock the wheel over the edge, just before pulling the ribbon tightly, keeping the lid closed as they'd roll crazily without tripping over each other, but no...  
That wouldn't do either. They wouldn't be able to tell where they were going and it's be a rather awkward situation, what with them being crammed in a box like that...  
"Ugh, not again..." Exos mumbled as she grouchily picked up her pace until she was ahead of Stratos.  
The sudden change of order snapped Stratos out of her trance to realize she was lagging and quickened her pace with Exos. She didn't say anything, but she did seem rather ashamed of letting her mind take her away like that. After that, the pace was more of a march as Exos stayed straight toward their destination.

Blake could feel the awkward tension between the two and he didn't like it. With a slight cough, a very human habit he had picked up from others in his old colony, he tried to start a conversation. "So, uh, are you two related or kinda just live together?"

Stratos' head perked up at the question and slightly turned her torso so she could glance over to him.  
She placed an index finger to her chin as she spoke. "We were made by the same creator and share a piece of said creator's soul. So, I'd count that as being related." She seemed eager to share information. "I was the third to be created, while Exos was the 7th," she said with a smile.

Blake was stunned. "You were... made? You... Your soul is from a human? And all of your friends are from the same human?" He could barely wrap his head around the concept. He had heard legend of stitchpunks who had been made by human souls when the fleshy beings still walked the earth, but it sounded fake.

Stratos blinked and snapped her head around to look at Blake directly. "Wait, you didn't know?" she asked in surprise. She cupped her hand around her chin. "Well... That would make sense since people were dropping dead faster than flies. So, you may have never gotten to meet your creator..." Stratos deduced.  
She began to grow more curious about Blake and how he lived, about how other stitchpunks lived. Were there others?  
She didn't want to admit that she and her family haven't actually met other stitchpunks before. Until yesterday that is, but that was probably obvious at this point...  
"I'm sorry. If I had known, I wouldn't have mentioned it so bluntly," Stratos said before asking. "Do most not know that?"

Blake stared at Stratos. "I... I don't have a creator. I was born... from my mother and father. Do you... not know that's possible?" He couldn't believe these two only knew of the now practically ancient way that stitchpunks came to be. How they were made now was common knowledge once one hit their teenage upgrade in his colony.

Stratos stopped and stared back at Blake. She didn't recall anything in the designs she'd seen mentioning that procreation was possible with their race. "You were born? How is that? Is it like how living creatures used to bear children, or is it a more complicated process involving machinery?" she asked quickly without really thinking about what she was asking.

Blake could feel himself getting embarrassed by the subject. How had these two never heard of bonding before? "Uh. Well, it has more to do with our um, souls than machinery.. I mean, y-yeah, playing with your um... your innards feels good but uh, it's the souls that actually make the, um, child." Wringing his hands as he spoke, he avoided the gaze of Stratos and Exos.

Stratos noticed Blake's nervousness and found this new information rather unsettling. "So it is like when living creatures bred," she said before Exos noticed the two weren't following her anymore.  
Exos marched back over and asked, "What's the hold-up?" in an irritated tone.  
Stratos looked to Blake with a serious expression before turning to Exos and said, "Nothing that can't be discussed later." Stratos started walking again, taking the lead once more.  
Exos gave Blake a confused look, she had not heard their conversation.

Blake quietly followed Stratos, trying to ignore Exos's gaze. He'd rather not be questioned further about the subject. The tone and look of Stratos unnerved him, and he felt like they would be talking about this more when they stopped for the night, which he was not looking forward to.

Exos chose to ignore the situation for now and followed behind them. Things were quiet for a long while as they walked.  
Nearing late afternoon, there was a noticeable pick-up of wind, signifying there was a storm coming. Stratos and Exos braced themselves as the wind pushed against the group. "We should find a place to stay soon!" Stratos called out as the wind battered her hearing.

Blake's cloak whipped around him, the wind pushing the hood off of his head as he covered his optics. "I think we should find one now!" He scanned the area for a decent looking shelter but it was hard to see through all of the dust the wind was picking up.  
The group continued to push on until he spotted an overturned truck. Furniture that had been in the bed and was strewn all around it, including a dresser. It was on its back, its drawers jutting out slightly. Their tracks must have rusted and stuck them like that.  
"Over there!" Blake shouted, pointing. "Let's check that out!"  
At this point, thunder was starting to rumble in the distance.

Stratos and Exos looked to where he pointed.  
The dresser seemed ideal in Stratos' mind as it would provide ample shelter. "Let's try to reach the dresser before this storm gets any worse!" Stratos suggested before trudging off towards it. Exos followed, holding her hood on her head as she walked.  
Upon reaching the dresser, they walked to a side where they were safest from the wind. "We'll need to hurry... Exos, I need some yarn," Stratos said.  
Exos nodded before opening the pouch on her right leg and pulled out a carefully coiled rope of dark blue yarn. Stratos slung the yarn onto her shoulder as Exos resealed the pouch. "Mind giving me a lift, Blake?" Stratos said pointing up at the dresser's edge.

Blake was dumbfounded as to what the hell Stratos was going to do but he obliged as well as he could. Hunching over a little, he laced his fingers together, ready for the other stitchpunk to step in his hands.

Stratos stepped into his hands, and with his help she clambered up onto the dresser's front. "Thank you!" she called before disappearing from view.  
Exos laced her hands and looked at Blake, "Your turn," she said flatly as she prepared to lift him.  
Leaving the other two, Stratos braced against the wind as she walked to a middle drawer.  
One of the drawers was slightly more ajar than the others, just enough to fit their hands under.  
She was about to kneel down at one of the handles to the ajar drawer, but something clicked in her mind and she quickly walked back to the drawer above that one. She knelt down at a handle and looped one end of the yarn around it before tying it down. She gave the yarn a few tugs to make sure it wasn't going to unravel. She kept the rest of the wound yarn on her arm around the elbow.

Blake glanced at the dresser, then to Exos, apprehensive about whatever was about to happen next. He wasn't the most graceful of stitchpunks but still stepped into her hands and allowed her to lift him so he could struggle to pull himself up and have steady footing. He peered over the edge of the furniture. "What about you?"

Exos looked up at Blake with a raised brow, "Well, I'd think you'd help me up," she said with a hint of snark.  
Stratos noticed Blake scrambling up onto the dresser and had walked over, unraveling the yarn coil as she went. "Here, hold on to this. We'll pull her up," she said, handing Blake some of the yarn. Stratos tossed the rest down to Exos.  
Exos took the end and wrapped it in her hand until the remainder of the yarn just barely touched the ground. She then grabbed the yarn and stepped on foot in the loop that she made. "Okay!" she called up.  
"Alright, pull," Stratos said to Blake and began to pull the yarn back up.

If Blake was anything, he was strong. He pulled at the rope, lifting Exos up onto the dresser. He smiled at her once she had her footing. "Alright, what next?"

"We need to lift a drawer open over there," Stratos said as she pointed at the partially ajar drawer. She recoiled the yarn as she walked back, leaving enough extra to reach the ajar drawer.  
Once Exos and Blake joined her, Stratos said, "Blake, you take this end. Exos, you take to other. I'll try and lift from the middle. We just need to lift the drawer enough to slip down."  
Sprinkles of rain were starting to fall upon them, time was running short.  
Exos quickly made her way to the other end of the drawer and prepared to lift it when the others were ready.  
Stratos kept the yarn on her arm as she too went into position.

Blake nodded, moving to the opposite side of the drawer to lift it. As the rain fell, he flinched and looked up. This storm looked nasty and he wasn't excited to get stuck in it. With a small grunt he lifted the drawer on his side as much as he could, which was a surprising amount.

Exos and Stratos lifted when Blake did.  
The drawer seemed sticky at first but with their combined efforts, the drawer jerked up and got stuck again. There was plenty of space for them to hop inside the drawer.  
Exos let her hands off the drawer a little to see if it'd fall, but the drawer seemed to be holding.  
"Phew, okay! This looks like enough space," Stratos called as she looked over the opening. Stratos used a lighting function in her optics to peer into the darkness of the drawer. It was empty. The humans that had packed the dresser must've emptied it before putting it in the truck. Other than some dust and light dirt that seeped in with the air, the drawer was clean and seemed safe. Stratos tossed the yarn inside and called Exos and Blake over to her. "We'll jump in at the same time. I want to make sure we all make it in without getting hurt or left outside," she said as wind blew cold raindrops on them.

Blake shivered as the raindrops hit his uncovered head. "Okay okay, let's jump on three." Even though Stratos had peered into the darkness to make sure it was safe, he was still a little scared. He started to count up from one and once he hit three, he jumped into the drawer, his shutters shut tight.

When Blake counted to three, Exos and Stratos jumped in with him.  
The combined force of the three stitchpunks landing on the back of the drawer caused it to un-stick and close. The sudden drop of the drawer made a horrible noise as it slid down, which made Stratos let out a startled yelp. She quickly recovered though as she could be heard letting out a slightly irritated sigh. She looked up at to see that there was a tiny crack of light coming through. The drawer didn't shut completely, but the light wasn't going to be of much use, even on a sunny day. Rain could be heard pouring down outside, which resonated inside the drawer. Exos and Stratos turned on lights in their optics to see in the dark drawer.  
"Is everyone alright?" Stratos asked calmly as she looked over to Exos and Blake.  
"I'm fine," Exos said as she brushed water off her arms and legs.

Blake was just a pile next to Exos. The force of impact and added fall as the drawer slid back in had knocked him out. With a small gasp he woke, slowly reaching up to rub his head. He certainly was not graceful, but he didn't think he was clumsy enough to knock himself out cold. Apparently he was. "W-we all good? We all in?" he asked softly, his voice slightly clouded with static.

When Blake didn't respond at first, Stratos and Exos both looked down at his unconscious form.  
"Blake? Blake are you okay?" Stratos asked in a worried voice as she knelt down next to him.  
"I think we killed him," Exos said jokingly.  
Stratos shot a scornful look at Exos. "Now is not the time for your humor, Exos."  
Exos rolled her optics and shrugged her shoulders. "You don't seem to mind when Tropos makes jokes."  
Stratos was about to respond but stopped when she heard Blake gasp. Stratos let out a relieved sigh, "Oh thank goodness!" After Blake asked his questions, Stratos hastily answered, "Yes, we're all fine, but are you okay?"

Blake groaned as he slowly sat up, still rubbing his head. "Yeah..." The static in his voice had faded but was still there a little. "I'll be fine." He squinted as he looked into Stratos's face, the light coming from her optics binding him a little. "How do you do that with your optics?"

Stratos shut her eyes and covered them with her hands when she realized she was blinding him. "Sorry!"  
When she let her hands down, the lights were off as she looked at him again.  
Exos kept watching them so they could see each other, crossing her arms as she waited.  
"Its a manual function. They're activated when I choose to and blink. They're rather handy, but if left on too long, it causes temporary blindness," Stratos answered with a soft smile.  
"Exos can turn one or both lights in her optics," Stratos pointed out.  
"They also don't blind me as badly as Stratos," Exos said, blinking for a moment, switching the left optic light off, but leaving the right on, and then switching them again. When done showing off, Exos turned them both back on.  
Stratos sighed, "Yes. Comes with being an older model."

Blake shook his head, letting out a soft 'tch' of disbelief. Stratos thought it was a downfall being an older model, not having those little upgrade fixes. If only they knew what he had been through, what he would do to have a perfect body made perfectly for who he really was, like them. It made him bitter, how she didn't appreciate what she had. "Sounds pretty amazing to be able to do that at all."  
Thunder crashed after a flash of lighting, making Blake jump a little. It cleared his head too. "It's super cool though."

Stratos reached a hand to her lips as she stifled a giggle when Blake jumped. "Indeed it is," Stratos agreed with a reassured smile.  
The rain seemed to be getting harsher outside, signifying that it may not end before night falls upon them.  
"Well, it seems we'll be stuck here for a while," Stratos said, looking up at the crack of light above them.  
Exos sighed. "Yeah... Hey, I'm gonna' take a nap. You good with that?" she asked.  
Stratos nodded. “Yes, that'll be fine. There won't be much else to do until it stops raining anyway."  
Exos then left them to sleep in one of the drawer corners, which glowed brightly as it bounced the light of her optics back onto her, before she laid down and shut her optics, drowning her in the darkness.  
"Hmm. Not a bad idea," Stratos said as she got up and turned the lights in her optics on. "Will you be staying up, Blake?" she asked, seeming hopeful that he would be.

"Uh, um... y-yeah, why not?" Blake stood slowly, his head still swimming a little from being knocked out. He swayed slightly when he reached his full height but steadied himself, before stretching out. The fall had banged on a few other parts of his body too. The rain outside sounded so fierce but being in the shelter of the dresser, he thought is sounded somewhat calming. Maybe he could finally relax and unwind after being so tense and scared for, how long was it now? Months? Years? Who knew.

"Excellent. Follow me. We'll chat away from Exos so her rest won't be disturbed," Stratos said, seeming pleased by his answer. She walked to the opposite corner on the opposite side of the drawer to where Exos was sleeping. She stopped a few inches, which would seem like feet to a stitchpunk, from the corner so the light from her optics bounced off enough to light up a small space, but not so close that it'd be glaringly bright. When she found the sweet spot for the lighting, she sat down and crossed her legs, letting her arms rest on them, and waited for Blake to join her.

Blake followed Stratos to the corner and sat somewhat diagonal to her, leaning against the wall with his knees up. He felt awkward, not facing her, but he didn't want to be blinded again. His head still didn't feel quite right from the fall. Sitting a few moments in awkward silence, he decided to break it with a question. "So uh, Stratos right? Sorry if I mix you two up, I-I'm not great with names..." he spoke softly.

"That's alright. We all have similar names, so it'll be understandable to mix us up from time to time," Stratos said in a calm and pleasant manner. "Even I've done it from time to time," she added with a small laugh. "But yes, my name is Stratos," she said. "I'm sure you're curious about us and our family. Just as I am curious about you. So feel free to ask questions if you have any." She seemed to be honestly open to talking, eager even.

Blake seemed somewhat uncomfortable at first. He didn't necessarily like the idea of getting asked a bunch of questions about himself. What if Stratos didn't like what he said? What if she didn't like him by the end of it? He fidgeted at his cloak before speaking up again. "So.. You were made by a human... Did you meet.. or see any others?"

Stratos' head perked at this question, but kept it facing the corner. "Humans? No. Not since then. Unless you want to count corpses," she responded in casual cheeriness. "I'm guess you haven't seen any living humans either?" she said in an inquiring manner.

Blake's look of utter disbelief was immediate. "Humans have been dead for decades are you kidding? I'm not THAT old!" Realizing how loudly he had spoken he snuck a glance at Exos, hoping he hadn't disturbed her nap.

Stratos covered her mouth as she stifled a laugh, she suspected he wouldn't have seen humans before, but found his reaction quite hilarious.  
It was too dark to see Exos, but she didn't seem to move, or make noise, so it was safe to assume that she was still asleep.  
"Well, thank you for making me feel old," she said in a sarcastic but good-natured manner.

Blake chuckled a little. "Oh, you're welcome." Even though he laughed, it really started to sink in how old Stratos, Exos, and the rest of their family was. They were all made by a human. He must seem like an infant to them. "So uh, any questions for me?"

"Oh, yes. Indeed. I want to start with something simple. Such as~ what're you're skills?" Stratos asked. "Can you fight? Dance? Draw? Sew-?" She seemed a bit hesitant in the last bit but tried not to mean any offense by it.

"Oh-" Blake was surprised by the kind of question. "I uh, I can sing." He was bashful as he spoke. He didn't like to flaunt his talents, plus, it sometimes gave him memories that left a sour taste in his mouth, so to speak.

Stratos clasped her hands together. "Oh! You can sing? How nice," she said enthusiastically. "Perhaps one day we'll get to hear you sing. After we return home, and things have settled down, of course," she said, melancholy hinted in her tone.

Blake chuckled but the laugh died out as he heard the soft sadness in Stratos' voice. "You miss them huh? Your family?" he asked after a few moments of silence.

"Well, yeah... We've been together for so long, our entire lives for that matter, and we drive each other crazy, but at the same time, being apart from them for even a day seems- lonesome," Stratos said as she shifted sitting positions so she could wrap her arms around her legs. "I'm partially glad that Exos is with me in this mess, but at the same time, I wish she wasn't, so she'd be with the others instead. She has never been this far from home," Stratos said with concern.

Blake listened intently. It must be odd, missing those she had left behind. He couldn't quite understand that sentiment, but the way Stratos hugged her legs made him feel bad for her. "Why were you two out so far away?" he asked softly, scooting a little closer to her. Maybe he could comfort her somehow.

"It wasn't by choice..." Stratos said solemnly. She let out sigh before she continued. "We were all out, scavenging for supplies and materials to add to our collections. Beasts are few where we live, but not unheard of. Exos noticed a beast behind some rubble. It hadn't noticed us and I came over to get her away. She gets too fascinated by them at times and forgets that they could attack her." There was a brief pause, "I was too distracted by Exos and the beast there, that I didn't notice the bird coming in. Atmos tried to warn us, but it was too late. Exos and I were swooped up like paper in the wind and the last we saw was the beast Exos was watching pursue the others...  
I know the others are all right though, Atmos is a great hunter, and the others know how to handle themselves in such situations, but it was still a heartbreaking moment," she said, though it seemed like she just reassuring herself.  
"We spent what felt like hours in that bird's talons, watching the ground far below us pass by like rushing water. We tried wriggling out of its grasp, but it just tightened its grip on us. Fortunately, we had freed our arms before then," she continued, sounding more confident.  
"Working together, we managed to get a needle out of Exos' pouch. We had studied the beast's structure, and found a loose wire. Taking the chance, I stabbed the wire and pulled it down until I could grab it with my hands a pulled on it until it snapped from something. With that, the bird began to plummet towards the ground, the cord must've been part of the wings, as the beast was still alive, but the wings had become stiff," she said as she recalled what happened.  
"We landed not too far from that broken jeep we slept by last night. It's amazing how sturdy we are, because I'm sure if a human went through a fall like that, they'd be dead, but we were only a little banged up. The beast was unconscious and had loosened its grip on us and we ran. Ran until we felt were at a safe distance. We lost our bearings upon the crash and wandered from mound to mound. Gathering things to use in case we got into more trouble," she said before a tiny pause. "But we met you instead," she concluded with smile.

Blake listened to Stratos tell her harrowing tale. He could tell she was a good storyteller and that she was very smart, but also noticed her emotions change as the scenes did. He felt bad for the two, being separated from their family by fate, not choice. He knew what he had done, leaving by choice, elicited much different feelings. Her small comment about meeting him caught Blake off guard. Flustered and a little embarrassed by the sudden spotlight, he hid his face behind his arm as he propped it up on his knee. "Yeah... You uh... You think we'll get back to your home soon? It'll be cool for me to meet everyone else, yeah?"

Stratos released her legs and stretched them out, placing her hands behind her, supporting her as she leaned back a bit and thought. "Well, once we reach the bent electrical tower, we just have to go the right direction and walk until we reach the town. From there, we'll be in familiar territory and be home in no time," Stratos said with a carefree attitude.  
"But it's a lot easier said than done. We're still quite far from home yet. If only we could find a faster mode of transportation. A roller skate, a tire, anything... Maybe there's something outside. With any luck, the people who had the truck also packed something we could use," she said in a thoughtful way. "Either way, I think the others will be excited to meet you. Though I am worried they might get a bit overwhelming for you when you do meet them," Stratos said with a warm smile. She seemed to be comforted by the thought of them meeting Blake.

Blake was glad for Stratos's optimism. It made him look at the brighter side. Maybe they would find some faster transportation. He was willing to search for whatever materials they would need.  
When Stratos spoke about him possibly being overwhelmed, he laughed. "I doubt that," he chuckled out, adding, "but I'm excited to meet them too," in a softer, more embarrassed voice. He hadn't been excited to meet or see new people in ages.

Stratos' smile grew as Blake laughed, it was good to hear him be comfortable around her. She reached a hand to one of her optics as the light coming from them flickered. She blinked a few times as she rubbed around the rims, but the light only grew dimmer. "Ah... I'm afraid we'll have to sit in the dark now. My eyes are getting sore," she said apologetically as they were both plunged into darkness.

Blake suddenly felt a coldness fill him as the light in Stratos's optics went out. He instinctively reached for his knife under his cloak. Wrapping his fingers around the cold metal, he leaned back against the wall, listening to the rain batter the outside of the dresser. "That's pretty cool... What you can do."

"Thank you," she said as she reached out for the wall next to Blake. "They do come in handy when scavenging for supplies, but it's nothing too special." When she felt the wall, she turned herself and rested her back against it, making it so she and Blake now sat on opposite sides of the corner.  
"Most of my family has them. Each a little different from the other. Mine are the most basic," Stratos said, not really upset about the fact.

Blake tightened his grip on his blade as thunder crashed above them. He usually liked the rain and thunder but in the dark, he was much less comfortable. "A-are you the first one that was made?"

"No, I'm the third to be made. Atmos is the first and Tropos is the second. Neither of them were given lights in their optics," she informed.

"Oh, I see..." Blake trailed off, falling silent yet again. He closed his shutters and tried to calm himself a little. He wasn't in danger, these two stitchpunks were allies, friends even, not enemies. The rain hammered against the dresser, giving Blake something to focus on and calm himself.

"You said you were born, right?" Stratos asked. "What were your parents like? Was it just you three living together, or were there other stitchpunks around too?" She had been wanting to ask these things since he mentioned it, and her curiosity was taking over her better judgment.

Blake didn't answer for a long while, debating on how to tackle this touchy subject for himself. "Um... Well, I lived in a colony of other stitchpunks and their families so it wasn't just us... As for my parents... they were... parents..." He sighed deeply. Did he really want to go into the abusive details right now? Not really. "They were nice. Until I decided to... be something other than what they had planned for me... what the whole colony had planned for me..."

Stratos listened intently. She was surprised and fascinated to know there was a colony somewhere out there. That there were possibly hundreds of stitchpunks, and she never knew or saw one before. What were the chances?  
She grew concerned when he mentioned his parents. There was something off about the way he spoke of them. There was more to the story, but she decided not to pry for more since they were still just learning about each other.  
She sighed. “Life is strange like that. We are never what others think we should be," she said with a sense that maybe she knew how he felt, even just a little bit. "I know I didn't turn out the way I should have been, but we can't let that stop us from being who we are. Right?"

Blake didn't like the knowing tone in Stratos's voice. It made him bitter. She didn't know his struggle. She couldn't fathom his pain. His inner voice repeated the bitter thoughts over and over again, but with a sigh, he moved them aside. She couldn't understand, not yet, and that was okay. "Yeah... You're right. I am who I am. Can't stop me."

Stratos started to feel the tension that she caused between her and Blake. Maybe she shouldn't have said anything, but it was too late for that. She rubbed her arm as she grew unsure of what to say or do now. She didn't want to upset him further. So she sat in silence, hoping either boredom would make her tired enough to warrant sleep, or if Blake would break the silence and perhaps turn the conversation to lighter topics.

Blake put up his hood. It's not like it would do anything to guard from the elements. The dresser was already doing that. Or hide his face. The darkness had that taken care of that. He just wanted to feel safe, he guessed, under the familiar fabric. It didn't take long for him to decide he wanted to get some sleep. Standing slowly, he shuffled and turned around. "I'm gonna' sleep... Maybe dream up a way to get to your family faster..." Moving slowly, one hand on the wall, he found the empty corner opposite Stratos and lay down.

"Oh, okay. Sleep well," Stratos said nervously. She listened as he moved, waiting for when he laid down to rest. She softly sighed.  
Now left alone in the darkness, there really was nothing else to do but think to herself. Her mind ran through so many subjects, but the most recurring was being home again, living her simple yet strange life with her family. She wasn't sure when her thoughts became dreams, but at some point she laid down and fell asleep.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Minor Violence

Blake dreamt of flying. Flying high above any monster or machine. Away from his past. To a warm and living home, that when he woke, did not exist. Waking was like a slap in the face. He tried to hold on to the weightless and wholesome feeling the dream had given him, but it was no use. With a sigh he sat up, blinking away sleepiness.

Light soon greeted him as Exos looked at him. Her left optic shown brightly through the darkness, although it wasn't quite as dark inside as it was before they slept. Exos was hunched down next to Stratos, presumably trying to wake her. "Morning," she called out to him in her usual flat tone. She always sounded annoyed or lacking in emotion for some reason.

Blake squinted at Exos's bright optics. Something in her tone, or maybe a lack thereof, was not the thing he wanted to wake up to. "Morning." He sat up and leaned up against the wall. "Are we gonna' head out soon?"

"Yeah. As soon as Stratos is up. The sun's been up for a while now," Exos answered, turning back to Stratos and shook her shoulder. “Hey, wake up. We gotta' get moving."  
It took a few moments, but Stratos eventually awoke between Exos repeating the same lines and the shaking.  
Stratos groaned as she propped herself up.  
"Morning," Exos repeated in the same fashion she had with Blake.  
"Morning," Stratos groggily mumbled back.  
She didn't seem as aware as the last time they awoke, but maybe that was because of the adrenaline of fear that made her that way before.  
Exos got up and wandered over to the yarn that dangled down from outside.  
There was a small puddle of water below it from being soaked in rain, and drained down.  
Exos tested the yarn, making sure it was still fastened tight and found that it was mostly dry except for the very end.

With a sigh, Blake stood, stretching for a few moments before heading toward Exos and the yarn. He snuck a quick glance at the stitchpunks, trying to see if he could pinpoint why she was just so deadpan. Unfortunately he came up with nothing. Looking to Stratos now, he crossed his arms, ready to be up and out and on their way.

"What's the plan?" Exos asked.  
Stratos turned the lights in her optics on and pointed to the open side of the drawer, lighting the area a bit. “We lift the drawer up from the underside and carefully climb out," she answered, sounding more awake.  
Exos walked over to the spot, stepping down off the drawer, now standing on the dresser's back frame. She walked to one side and waited for the others to join.  
Stratos walked over and stood at the middle, same as last time.

Blake took his position on the other side of Stratos and lifted on the count of three. The drawer was hard to budge at first but suddenly sprang up, causing him to cry out with some surprise. Panting somewhat, he made his way back to the yarn.

Exos was about to climb up to climb the yarn after him but Stratos stopped her.  
"Wait! It'll be better to go one at a time. We don't know if our combined weight may cause the drawer to fall again," she explained.  
Exos raised a brow. “Yeah, but last time we jumped on it. I don't think it'll just collapse if we all stand on it," she retorted.  
"It never hurts to play it safe," Stratos said much like a repeated quote.  
Exos rolled her optics and sighed. “Yeah, yeah. Fine," she said, crossing her arms and waited for Blake.

Blake shimmied his way up the yarn, albeit a little slowly, and eventually made it to the top. He peered down into the drawer and gave the other two a thumbs up before looking at the landscape before him. The storm had done a number on the road that they had been walking on. It was dotted with puddles, and looked to only be wet and muddy; not a fun time for any stitchpunk. He scanned the area, looking for anything that might possibly be of help, not only in staying dry, but also in getting into town faster.

Exos followed his suit and shimmied up the yarn, albeit a bit faster since she was taller. As soon as she climbed out of the drawer, she turned to look down and waved her hand to signal Stratos to come. Stratos clambered back in the drawer and took the end of the yarn. She wrapped it in her hand, much like Exos did the day before and gave Exos a thumbs up.  
Exos nodded and stood up. “Do me a favor and help her out when she's close to the top," Exos said as she walked past Blake. She stopped a ways and picked up the yarn before reeling it in, pulling Stratos up.

Blake grabbed hold of the rope and helped Stratos up the last bit. Readjusting his cloak and hood, he huffed a little and gestured around them. "Doesn't look to pretty out there for us," he said, his voice monotone, but obviously a little exasperated.

Stratos softly said a "thank you," to Blake as she stood up and took a look around. She let a small groan of displeasure. Mud was the last thing she wanted to trudge through. Stratos continued to stand and think, looking around for time to time.  
Exos wandered around the dresser before noticing something in the sky. "Hey, Stratos," Exos called out.  
"Yes? What is it Exos?" Stratos said as she walked to Exos.  
"Remember that bird beast that got us in this mess?" Exos said, still watching the thing in the sky.  
"Of course. My memory isn't that bad," she said as she looked out at the sky.  
She noticed the thing in the sky. “Is that one of those little blimp beasts?" she asked, with a surprised tone. "Isn't it a bit far out for one of those to be floating about?"  
"It could have gotten carried here by last night's storm," Exos guessed as they watched it slowly float towards their direction. It was far from reaching them yet though.

Blake stared at the tiny point in the sky that was the machine. "So... can we hijack that thing?" He was reminded of his dream, flying high above the ground, right into the town. Maybe Stratos was thinking too much on the ground. Why not get back the way those two got here in the first place?

"You know, I was just wondering the same thing," Stratos said looking back at him with a smile. "First thing's first is getting it down low enough for us to get on. It may just come down towards us itself, but most generally just like making noise to call other beasts," she said as she pondered more.

"But if we're in the air, what beast is gonna-" Blake stopped himself when he realized the beast that had snatched Stratos and Exos up could very well be the beast that could attack them in the sky. He scowled and crossed his arms, trying to figure out a new solution. "How does that thing fly anyway?"

"Fire," Exos answered.  
"Yes, it's a lot more like a hot air balloon than a blimp, but we call it that anyway," Stratos elaborated.  
"It has better control than a hot air balloon though, because of the bellow pump attached at the body," Exos added.

"Could we make those things? Not deal with the machine, just make our own version." Blake started scanning the area to see if there was any fabric laying around to make the blimp part.

Stratos liked Blake's willingness to make their own balloon, but she doubted how well it'd work since they needed quite a fire to create enough hot air to get the balloon off the ground and carry their weight. Worst case scenario would be the balloon catching on fire before they even got it off the ground...  
"While I admire your ingenuity, I have ah- a different plan," Stratos said as she wandered over to the yarn still tied to the drawer knob. "You see, these things are about as bright as they are fast, which is not very," she said as she gathered the yarn until she had the loose end. "They'll sound alarm if it sees all three of us, but only one? It'll attempt to catch that one by themselves. After all, how bad would it be to catch one unarmed stitchpunk?" Stratos continued to explain her plan.  
"So you're saying we should bait it down?" Exos asked as she joined Stratos.  
"Exactly. While you and Blake hide behind the open drawer, I'll act as bait, and when it grabs me, I'll tie the yarn to its arm. After that you can pull it down and climb on," Stratos elaborated.

Blake nodded at Stratos, liking her idea. "Okay okay... But what do we do about the alarm? It'll still sound it when we start clamoring up into it, wouldn't it?"

"They only have one arm, and if it's tied down, it can't wind the alarm," Exos explained.  
"Yes! It's such a fatal flaw, but the next step would be tricky," Stratos said excitedly. "We will need to untie it from the dresser in order to leave, but if we free its arm, it'll sound the alarm anyway. So someone will have to untie the yarn from the knob and climb up while, presumably, the other tries to keep the alarm lever from being turned. The next step would be to bind the arm to another part of the beast so it can't reach the lever," she pointed out.  
"We could try and pull the arm across the eye stalks, then tie it to one of the speaker supports," Exos suggested.  
"That could work," Stratos said as she shook a pointed finger, contemplating the idea, "after it's tied down, we might be able to bring the extra yarn around to the other support and make a sort of rein. Then we'd have an easy method of making the beast go where we choose. Perfect! If it works," she added, seeming confident enough about the plan.

Blake slowly walked around the dresser, pushing little water droplets together with his foot, making bigger droplets. He wondered what it would be like to fly. His dream was nice, but was that anything close to reality? After about a minute, he realized he had not absorbed any of what the other two stitchpunks had been saying. He looked at Stratos as she spoke about extra yarn tying something down. Even though he had no idea what she was referring to, he knew exactly how to respond. "That sounds pretty complicated. How do you think we'll pull it off?"

Stratos paused for a moment and sighed. Although the plan was well thought out, she didn't really think about if it was actually possible for them to do it. "I'm- I'm not sure," Stratos admitted.  
"This is stuff Atmos handles most of the time," Exos mentioned before checking on the blimp beast's progress.  
"Indeed... Most of us are not as hands-on as she is when it comes to dealing with beasts. We generally think up ways to ensnare or deactivate the beast while she improvises with the plan given," Stratos said as she rubbed her forehead as she thought more about the situation.  
The beast was closing the distance between them at a leisurely pace, and hadn't seemed to notice them just yet, but it might soon if they don't think of something.

"Well... One of you will be bait... I'll run up and grab a hold, and the other will disable the alarm. I think that sounds... doable, right?" Blake was talking out of his ass at the point. He was kind of zoning out. Maybe it was from the calming aftermath of the storm. Maybe it was the calm before another, symbolic storm.

"Well, it's the only plan we've got. We won't know if it'll be successful until we try," Stratos said.  
"If we're done planning, we better get into place. It's gonna' see us any minute now," Exos said with a tinge of urgency in her tone.  
Stratos looked back to spot the beast coming. “Right! I'll be the bait and tie its arm to the drawer. Exos you'll climb on and keep the beast from sounding the alarm. And Blake, I'm trusting you to untie the yarn from the dresser knob and climb up to join Exos. With any luck, I'll be free to help either prevent the alarm from being sound, or in tying the beast's arm down," she said quickly.  
Exos nodded. "Got it," she said before rushing over to hide behind the open drawer.

Blake glanced at the approaching machine and was startled by its close proximity to them. He quickly followed Exos behind the drawer, his hand instinctively going to his concealed knife. His gears turned fast as the reality that they were about to tangle with a machine set in. He peered over the edge of the drawer to see what Stratos was doing.

Stratos took a deep breath, readying herself for what was to come.  
It wasn't her first time acting as bait, but it always proved to be an unnerving experience.  
"Hey! You over-grown sea slug!" Stratos shouted out to the beast and shook a fist at it. "Over here, you no-good pile of bolts!"  
Her shouts seemed to have caught the beast's attention as its eye stalks snapped to her position and focused on her in a curious way.  
"Yeah, I'm talkin' to you!" she shouted at it as it approached her. “Tell me, what's it like to be slower than molasses!? Seriously, are you even moving!?"  
The beast picked up speed, not really because it was offended by Stratos' words, but because it wanted to get to her before she ran away. It still took a moment for it to be close enough to grab her. Despite it being a slow flier, it had quick reflexes as its arm snatched Stratos around the waist and began ascending.  
Being grabbed so quickly after waiting so long startled Stratos enough to let out a yelp, but kept face as she proceeded with the plan. She held onto the end of yarn, letting the excess fall off her arm. She quickly and aptly wrapped the yarn around he beast's arm a couple times and tied it down tightly. The yarn was soon pulled taut, causing the dresser to jolt as the beast's ascent was halted.  
"Now!" Exos said before rushing in. She grabbed the yarn and lifted her legs so her feet crossed each other, pinching the yarn between her feet. She hung upside down as she shimmied her way up the yarn like a caterpillar.

Blake stood and watched Exos for a moment. Time seemed slowed as he stared, fear suddenly gripping him. What were they getting themselves into? He jumped back into the top of the drawer and kneeled next to the knob, ready to untie it at Exos's word.

The beast grew very confused and distraught by the situation it found itself in and tried to fly away. In its panicked state, it released Stratos, who was holding tight onto its arm at the time and took the opportunity to climb up. Of course, this was easier said than done as the beast's body waved about in attempt of freeing itself.  
Climbing the yarn became difficult for Exos and she grew afraid to move. Clutching the yarn tightly, she closed her optics and wished that the beast would stop.  
Stratos clumsily scaled the beast's arm and held onto a speaker support to keep her from falling. She looked down to see how the others were doing and spotted Exos frozen in fear. "Oh, no!" Stratos said to herself before shouting, "Exos! Exos, you have to keep climbing!"  
Exos heard Stratos, but refused to open her eyes or move, "I- I can't!" she shouted out, fear instilling her voice.  
"Shhh-oe laces!" Stratos cursed as she took action and quickly looked over the handle for the lever. If she could find a way to remove the handle from the lever, the beast wouldn't be able to turn it as easily.

"Exos, you gotta' move! You can do it!" Blake jumped onto the knob, balancing a little stupidly on it for a moment. "This is your ticket home, you gotta' keep climbing!" He glanced up at Stratos, worried that she was getting overwhelmed up there with the plan not going well."

Exos knew it was a stupid move, but she braved a glance down at Blake as he spoke. She let his words sink in and with a deep breath, she attempted to climb again. There was a hesitant moment at first, but she kept her gaze up at the lever, she needed to reach it.  
Meanwhile, Stratos deemed the idea of removing the lever worthless at the current moment and went for a more direct approach. She began climbing up on top of the speaker. Once there, she held onto the edge as she lowered herself down in front of the speaker. She then began to kick at the mesh, trying to get it to tear at the edges.

Blake grinned as he watched Exos continue shimmying up the yarn and cupped his hands around his mouth to project his voice as he shouted again. "You got this! You-" It was stupid, what he did. He tried to take a step forward, but forgot he was on the knob. Stumbling, trying to regain his footing, he cried out. He fell and hit the drawer hard with his shoulder. The force of his fall caused the drawer to slip down a little, pulling the beast down with it. Blake stood, staring with wild optics to see what damage he had done, and as he took a step, the drawer fell the last few inches, slamming shut. Thrown off balance again, he slammed into it again with a grunt.

The sudden pull of force made the beast bob wildly, making Stratos loose grip on the speaker's edge. Stratos felt her soul skip a beat as her hands slipped. A panicked "No!" escaped her throat as she fell. She tried to grab onto anything to stop her fall, but the beast's violent moving made it impossible to do so.  
Exos halted her climbing and held on for dear life, keeping her optics shut as she waited for the jerking to stop. Stratos fell hard onto the dresser front to the point that her body tumbled a bit before she laid still.

Blake felt Stratos hit the dresser before he looked up and saw her still body. "Stratos!" he cried out, terror in his voice. He scrambled over to her, whispering 'oh no's under his breath the whole time. He shook her and moved her so he could see her face. "Stratos!" Oh God, he had messed up big time, he had screwed up real bad now.

Exos heard Blake shout Stratos' name and quickly looked up, seeing she was not on the beast. She then shot her head down to see Blake running towards the unconscious Stratos. Exos felt dread run through her soul in fear of the worst.  
Stratos' brow furrowed as she softly groaned. "That hurt," her voice coming out clearly as she opened her eyes. "That was a stupid move on my part," she said, berating herself as she propped herself up. Exos was surprised to see Stratos was okay and moving, letting out a sigh of relief.

Blake let out a relieved sigh when Stratos spoke and moved. "No no it was m-my fault," he reassured, his voice shaking a little. He felt like he was about to cry. Out of relief or leftover fear, he didn't know. "Can you stand? W-we gotta' try and salvage th-this." He managed a lopsided grin at Stratos before gently patting her shoulder.

Stratos looked over at him and patted his shoulder. "Don't worry about it. I can walk," she said reassuringly before standing up. "Right, try two!" Stratos said as she held up her arm, giving an 'okay' hand signal to Exos, who was still watching them from above.  
Exos nodded and continued her ascent, finally reaching the arm of the beast.  
"Alright, change of plans. Blake, I want you to climb up and join Exos. I'm going to untie it from the dresser, so be sure to hold tight up there. Don't worry if you don't disable the alarm. Our priority now is getting the arm bound down so it won't bother us while we're on it," Stratos affirmed to Blake before taking position at the drawer knob.

Blake nodded, but he could feel his body shaking with more fear. Trying to shake it off, he grabbed into the yarn and swung one foot over the line, hooking his ankle on it, then did the same with his other foot, locking his ankles together. After a shaky deep breath, he started pulling himself up the yarn, trying not to think about falling. He felt his head bump against the machine's arm. Not being as agile as Exos made him take longer to climb up. "What now?" He wasn't thinking straight or clear. He needed direction.

"Hey!" Exos called down to him. She was holding onto the speaker support as she knelt down a held out a hand towards him. "Climb up the arm. I need your help keeping the lever steady while I dismantle it," she said with a determined air about her voice.

Blake nodded and clambered up the arm, taking Exos' hand when she was within reach. Getting up top he level, he grabbed the lever, ready to keep it steady. He noticed he was shaking less but that made the shaking come back so he focused on the stitchpunk in front of him.

Exos pulled a shard of metal from her pouch and set it in the screw that held the handle to the lever. It took quite a bit of force to get the screw to turn, but it soon loosed and became a matter of unscrewing it until the handle fell off. When this happened, Exos dropped the shard to garb onto the lever as the handle and its screw fell down, landing with a plop into the fresh mud. Exos quickly pushed off the lever and grabbed onto the speaker support. "Now Stratos!" she shouted.  
Stratos was already in the middle of untying the yarn from the knob, having started after seeing the handle fall. She tied the end of the yarn around her hand and wrist to ensure that she wouldn't be left behind as the yarn quickly unwound itself from the knob while the beast started to ascend again. She quickly grabbed the yarn being pulled by the beast and held on tightly.

Blake gripped onto the lever as they started to ascend, his shutter squeezed closed. "Did we do it? I-is Stratos okay?" His gears felt like they were working overtime as fear ebbed and flowed in him. He could feel the shaking returning.

Exos was holding tight onto the speaker support as they floated higher up. She felt both scared and excited by the experience as the ground dropped in the horizon. She braved a look down to see if Stratos was still with them, but what she saw was the arm of the beast reaching to sound the alarm. "Get down!" Exos shouted as she reached out an arm and grabbed Bake's cloak by the shoulder, trying to pull him towards her.

Blake's mind reeled, fear spiking yet again. He ducked and leaned in towards Exos, the machine's hand barely missing him.

The beast tried to reach the handle lever, but realized that it was gone. Looking around, it spotted the two stitchpunks and seemed angry.  
"Move!" Exos called out before quickly moving to the front of the speaker where the beast's eye stalks were set in. The beast's arm moved in attempt of snatching one of them.  
As the arm moved, Stratos down below was swung in different directions like a wildly out of control pendulum. Stratos continued to try and climb the yarn, carefully choosing when to reach higher as she swung.

Blake was slower to move, but the beast wasn't too flexible in the direction he was going. He grabbed a hold of one of the eye stalks for support and stared the monster down, terrified but never willing to show it.

Exos continued to cross the beast's "face" and made her way to the right side of the speaker. The beast tried to reach over at Exos, but it was also trying to focus on Blake, who was staring it down. As a result, the lazily tried to grab Exos, but far out stretched its reach, missing her entirely.  
"Hey there!" Stratos called, now dangling only a couple inches from the beast's wrist.  
Exos was happy to see Stratos and reached a free hand out to her. Stratos swung herself enough to jump over and catch Exos' hand.  
Stratos clumsily landed on the beast's shoulder and was helped up Exos. Now on the beast with everyone else, Stratos untied the yarn from her hand and wound it around one of the speaker supports. With Exos' help, they pulled the yarn until it was taut and tied it down. "Got it!" Stratos cheered as the beast tried to reach Blake but found it stuck.

Blake looked back to see the machine tied and Stratos safe. He smiled at the two. "We did it!" Looking back at the monster's eye, he grinned wide, giving the biggest mental 'F you!' He could muster.

Stratos chuckled, feeling great with their success.  
Even Exos was smiling as a sense of pride and accomplishment welled inside her.  
Stratos took the excess yarn and walked around behind the speaker to the other side. Once there, she tied the yarn to the support, leaving enough space for them to pull on it, like horse reins. With luck and strength, they should be able to maneuver the beast to the correct directions.

Blake let himself calm down a little, his shaking slowly stopping. "So, what now? We head toward the town?"

"We're still gong to head towards the bent electrical tower, since it's a familiar land mark, from there I'll know where to turn to get to town," Stratos said as she peered over at him.  
Exos looked out to see where the tower was. “If we're going there, then we better make a hard left, because we're flying away from it," she said slowly returning to her usual tone.  
Stratos looked over and spotted the tower. "Alright, hang tight everyone because here we go!" she warned as she pulled on the reins and leaned her body to get enough pull to make the beast turn.  
It was a slow and wide turn, but aside from the slight tilting, it wasn't so bad. As they started to head the right direction, Stratos felt like things were finally coming together. At least for now.  
Exos decided to sit down by the reins, but not let go of the speaker support, just in case. Everything seemed so different from so high up. The cool wind softly batted her hood as she watched the ground beneath them leisurely pass them by. It was a much more pleasant experience in comparison to when she and Stratos were in the clutches of the bird beast.

Blake decided to nestle himself between the eye stalks, gripping one just in case. Looking down and watching the ground pass beneath them reminded him of his dream. With a smile, he closed his shutters and let the wind pad over and around his body. They'd be, well, home soon, even though where they were going wasn't really his home. He felt like he'd make it one in due time.

Stratos would walk to the left and right of the beast to make sure they were headed in the correct direction. At times the beast would attempt to veer off, but Stratos kept it on track, so there would only be slight swaying as they flew. After a while, Exos made her way to join Blake.  
She perched herself by an eye stalk and gave a flat, "Hey," in greeting.

Blake looked up at Exos, not liking her flat tone. But he wasn't about to start causing trouble for nothing. "Hey, what's up?"

"I, uh-," Exos tried to say something, but she seemed hesitant, nervous even. She took a deep breath. "I- just wanted to say thanks. For earlier, when you cheered me on," she said seeming embarrassed but genuinely grateful for his support.

Blake was surprised by the thank you, but smiled from it nonetheless. "You're welcome. You just needed a little encouragement to get up there."

Exos gave a small smile back before turning her head away and rubbed the back of her neck under her hood. "Yeah... I guess I did," she admitted, her tone soft, not flat like before.

The change is Exos' tone made Blake chuckle. "So you do have a soft side huh?"

Exos stiffened and looked at him with an annoyed and embarrassed expression. "Okay, I'm leaving!" Exos said in a huff as she hurried back to her spot by the speaker support.

Blake sighed and shook his head, a small sad smile on his lips. Fine. She wasn't going to open up to him, whatever. She wanted to keep that harsh facade for some reason, and he'd let her. He didn't want to start anything after all. Looking out, he could see the electrical tower getting closer. They were almost there, it felt like. Almost halfway home. Almost.

Stratos could hardly believe how close they were getting to being home. The idea of it made her anxious and all too excited. All they needed to do was turn the direction the bent tower was, and they'd be home. It was all so simple. Unfortunately, life was never one for simplicity...  
As they closed-in on the tower, the more the wind blew, making it hard to keep the beast in line.

Blake noticed the pickup in winds. He looked up at Stratos, concerned. "Hey, uh, the wind's getting stronger. Are we gonna' have to bail?"

"Yeah, I've noticed!" she said as she tugged on the reins, putting the beast back on path. She hated to admit it, but they'd have to bail soon, or risk getting blown too far off course.  
As this was happening, Exos was holding onto the speaker support and noticed something by the tower's base. It looked to be a typical beast walking on all fours but something was on its back. Something pink? Exos lost sight of it when the blimp beast was battered by the wind again. She tried to spot it again, but it was gone now.  
"I don't think it'd be a good idea to stop here!" Exos stated as she braced herself, "there's a beast down there!"  
Stratos again tried to keep the blimp steady as the wind died down for a moment. "Greaaat!" she said sarcastically. "I'll try to keep it in the air, but I can't make any promises!" Stratos stated as she prepared for the next gust.

Blake gripped the eye stalks as the blimp started to sway from the wind. "Maybe we can drop on a building? Keep us off the ground?"

"That tower is the closest to a building we have for miles yet," Stratos said as she preemptively turned so the wind would push them back on course instead of out. "I think I'm getting the hang of this!" Stratos said, sounding more confident.  
They were almost over the tower when Exos spotted the beast from earlier. The pink thing on its back was easier to see now.  
It was a stitchpunk! A stitchpunk with what could be a grappling hook aimed right at them!  
Before Exos called out, "Look out!" the pink stitchpunk shot the grappling hook, and a fishing hook snatched itself onto the balloon. The pink stitchpunk then made the beast they were riding on climb down the tower, dragging the blimp beast and the others with it.

Blake stared at the stitchpunk and beast below, gripping onto the eye stalks for dear life. "What the fuck?! Why are they taking us down?" Fear gripped him again. He just wanted to get home, and he didn't like the feeling that he was getting about the stitchpunk that was taking them down.

"I don't know!" Stratos said as she held onto the reins, unable to steer the beast now that they were tipped sideways as the tether dragged them down.  
As they were about to run into the tower, Exos shouted, "Jump!" before leaping off the beast and haphazardly grabbed onto one of the tower's beams.

Blake cried out in surprise as he jumped and grabbed into a beam. Scrambling up into it, he panted hard, his shaking returning. "No no no no! We were almost there!" His head was reeling. He just wanted to be safe. Now they were being hunted.

Stratos leapt off last, and desperately clung to a beam.  
Exos made her way to Stratos and helped her up before the balloon squeezed past, catching on fire as it continued to be dragged down.  
"What the actual hell!? What- why!?" Stratos shouted in confusion as she watched the blimp descend in a terrifying and fiery glory.  
"We gotta' move! They'll come back if we don't get out here!" Exos urged as she pulled Stratos onto her feet.  
"Right! Blake! Are you okay!?" she said panicked as they made their way to him.

Blake stared as the blimp fell to the ground in a blaze. There was a ringing in his audials. He heard the faint sound of Stratos' calling for him and turned to the approaching stitchpunks. "W-what do we do now?"

Stratos and Exos stopped and stood by him.  
"We have to find a way down. That's what we do now," Stratos answered, trying to keep calm. There was a sudden unearthly roar as the four-legged beast pounced in front of them. Stratos jolted with a sharp gasp, preventing her from screaming.  
While Exos screamed in fright and nearly fell off the beam as she stepped back, but Stratos caught her and pulled her back on the beam.

Blake cried out in fear as the beast roared. He scooted back, trying to get as far away as possible. His gears worked overtime as fear drove them faster and faster. He didn't want to die, not now, not today, not soon! He glanced down to see the dizzying drop below him. A drop from this height wouldn't be so kind to him, so jumping was out of the equation.

"Oh! Did I scare you? Eeeheehahaha~!" the pink stitchpunk laughed as she leaned over on the back of the beast's skull.  
Now so close to the beast, Exos noticed that the thing was blind, as if its optics had been torn out. Instead, there was a ratchet run through the eye sockets of its skull. There was twine tied around each end of the ratchet, serving as reins for its pink rider.  
Stratos didn't like the air about this stitchpunk, and considered fleeing by jumping down. She knew she and Exos had a chance of coming out of the fall fairly alright, but Blake's mechanisms were way too sensitive to survive a drop from this height. She stared at the pink stitchpunk with a serious expression, trying to hide her fear from them.  
"I must say, I didn't expect to find more rabbits so soon!" the pink stitchpunk said in an all too enthusiastic tone.  
Stratos didn't like the sound of being considered a rabbit, and neither did Exos.

Blake didn't see the pink stitchpunk at first, he only heard her, which struck fear through him. That laugh and, upon closer inspection, that crazed looking expression. He had encountered others like her, but she was the first that controlled such a massive beast. As she spoke again, fear shot through him again. She was going to kill them. Or torture them. Or do something terrible and unthinkable to them. He had seen victims of stitchpunks like her before.  
Blake started to think about how he could make this jump. There was no way he was staying up here with crazy for much long. Maybe he could used his knife to slow his descent if he jammed it into one of the tower's vertical supports. Okay, that could work. Now, to tell Exos and Stratos.  
He put a hand on Stratos' shoulder, and moved closer to her, his shaking overly apparent in his grip. "W-we need to jump," he said quietly.

Stratos felt his shaking hand on her shoulder and reflexively reached her hand to touch his. She looked at him from the edges of her optics, keeping her face towards the pink stitchpunk as much as possible. "We can't. You'll get severely damaged-," was all she could whisper before the pink stitchpunk spoke again.  
The pink stitchpunk leaned over the beast's skull further. "Are you little rabbits planning on jumping?" she asked sounding like this has happened before. "Eeheehee! You may if you wish, but I'm not really in the mood to play games. You see, I've already had a long day playing with some other rabbits and I'd really like to take a nap," she said as she rested her head in her hand. "But I'm in a good mood. So I'll give you two options on how to get down," she added with bargaining attitude.  
Stratos stood her ground, this was a delicate moment and the last thing she want to do was cause this stitchpunk to act rashly.  
Exos was liking the sound of jumping and taking her chances.

Blake stared at the pink stitchpunk, trying not to show how truly terrified he was of her. Would it be worth it to just jump? If something went wrong and he hit the ground, he'd die. But if he made it okay, the beast and its master have the chance of killing him anyway. And it looked like she was in the business of killing for thrills and sport. The idea scared him to his very soul.  
Stratos' hand on his own was the only thing keeping him from just leaping off in that very moment. She was smart and she hadn't moved, so neither would he.

Stratos kept quiet, she wanted to let the pink stitchpunk feel like they were in control, to keep her in her good mood.  
The pink stitchpunk laid out their options. "Either A) you drop all of your possessions off the tower and I give you a ride on my lovely mount. No tricks or funny stuff, or I toss all of you off. Or I get to knock you all down anyway since you're so keen on jumping. Oh, of course, if you choose A, you'll be put in temporary confinement until I'm ready to play with you later," she said in a toying manner. Either way, she played the odds in her favor. All there was to choose was how much time they had.  
Stratos wasn't about to turn down the generosity this stitchpunk was offering, considering the only other option was pretty much death. "We pick option A," Stratos said in a stern and decisive tone.  
Exos looked to Stratos, she didn't like any of this, but she had to admit, it was the smart choice.  
The pink stitchpunk sighed. "Typical leader decision," sounding disappointed, "but I'll play along and be honorable with my word," she added, making it sound like she was doing them a great service.  
Stratos didn't like her attitude, but was grateful that she was going to 'play along.'

Blake bit his lip as the pink stitchpunk spoke. The longer they stayed with her, the worse off they were going to be. Between now and the time on her beast, they had to figure out something. Maybe bolting once they were on the ground. The pink stitchpunk seemed to be tiring out for the day. Spreading out and running for the hills might make her give up on trying to catch them. But how was he supposed to communicate this to Exos and Stratos.  
For now, he'd do what he was told. Slowly, he took out his trusty blade from under his cloak and tossed it over the edge.

Exos opened her pouch and dug everything out. It pertained to mostly things like sewing supplies and bits of debris.  
Stratos had nothing on her and watched as her companion's possessions fell far below to the ground.  
The pink stitchpunk seemed mildly pleased. "Excellent. Now get on," she said as she urged the beast to reach an arm next to them. The beast did as it was made to, although its clawed appendage just missed Exos by mere centimeters, frightening her quite a bit. "Come on! Hurry up," the pink stitchpunk urged in a cheery yet impatient tone.  
Stratos gave Exos a consoling look before she walked over and climbed the beast's arm, taking a seat behind the pink stitchpunk. Exos followed behind, sitting behind Stratos.

Blake tentatively followed Exos, sitting behind her. Putting a shaking hand on her shoulder, he tried to think of a concise way to put his plan. He would tell Exos and then Exos would tell Stratos, and hopefully the pink stitchpunk would be none-the-wiser. It was the only chance he could see for them.

The pink stitchpunk shouted a loud, "Yah!" with a snap of the reins, and the beast quickly dove down, skillfully climbing down the tower. Stratos held onto the ribs of the beast, while Exos wrapped her arms around Stratos' torso as the beast was rapidly descending the tower. Exos couldn't help but find the experience both terrifying and exciting. She wondered for a moment what it'd be like to be at the reins, riding such a beast to the ends of the horizon.

Blake gripped onto Exos' shoulders, closing his shutters and fighting the urge to scream. He just needed to keep his head on straight and survive these next few moments. Then they could maybe, maybe, make it out together, and alive.

The beast soon hopped off the last beam and landed on solid ground. The ground was dry and dusty, but there were bouts of dried grass. Fortunately, the blimp beast didn't land on any of the grass patches and laid miserably on fire. Stratos felt sorry for the thing, as did Exos.

Blake paid no mind to the blimp beast. He leaned forward, bringing his mouth as close to Exos' audial while still being subtle about it. "On my signal. Jump off and run. She can't follow all of us if we split. Tell Stratos," he whispered. He hoped she would go along and this would all work out. He didn't want to die.

Exos nodded and leaned over to Stratos, whispering in her audial receiver, "Blake is going to signal us. When he does, jump off and run. We're to split up so we lose this chick."  
The pink stitchpunk tugged on the reins, making the beast wander to the opposite side of the tower, where a bird cage could be seen. It was the type of cage that opened from the top instead of a little door like most.  
Stratos nodded as she soaked the information in, but also had a trick up her sleeve. She whispered to Exos, "Blake's cloak," trying to keep her message as simple as possible so the pink rider wouldn't be able to understand her intentions, should she hear what Stratos said.  
Exos seemed confused by the message, but leaned back to Blake and in a hushed tone, "Blake, hand me your cloak, quick."

Blake was bewildered by the request but quickly obliged, slipping out of his cloak quietly. He handed it over to Exos with a shaking hand. He eyes the bird cage they were nearing, fearing they were approaching too fast, that whatever Stratos had planned wouldn't be fast enough. But he had to trust her. They had to trust each other to make this work.  
Blake couldn't wait any longer. "Now!" he shouted as he leapt off the beast and started sprinting away. He couldn't bring himself to look back.

Exos jumped off almost instantly and ran as fast she could.  
Upon hearing the signal, Stratos took the cloak and draped it over the pink stitchpunk's head.  
The pink rider let out a surprised grunt as she was blinded by the cloak.  
Stratos then agilely tied the cloak down, making certain it to not be easily pulled off, and tightly wrapped her arms around the pink stitchpunk's waist.  
Exos didn't hear anything following her and braved a look back to see Stratos and the pink rider fall off the mount into the dusty dirt and the blind beast rear back from all the sudden activity.  
The beast wildly stumbled about before dashing off. It was uncertain its running was in fear, confusion, or perhaps the chance for freedom. Since the beast was blind and had no one to steer it though, the beast ran in a manic manner, uncertain where to run to.  
After landing on the ground with the blinded stitchpunk, Stratos scrambled to her feet and ran away while the pink stitchpunk tried to pull the cloak off her head.  
Seeing the Stratos was okay, Exos ran for the rampant beast.

As he was running, Blake realized a fatal flaw in his plan that only affected himself. He practically skidded to a stop and turned to see if Exos or Stratos were in earshot still. They were, and to his delight, the pink stitchpunk was momentarily occupied. "Which way?!" Blake belted. The other two knew how to get to their home, but he sure didn't. Everything he had done with them up until that point would have been wasted if he just ran with no way to know how to get to their home.

Stratos heard Blake's question, "follow the tower!" she shouted as she kept running towards one of the grass patches.  
Exos was busy in trying to catch up with the beast, and not get trampled. She had a moment of luck as the beast turn and ran by her. She tried to catch the reins, but ended up tripping and falling onto the ground. Exos wasn't about to quit just yet though. She had her own plan and wasn't going to stop until she got it done.

Blake noticed Exos tangling with the beast and wanted to scream at her to just run but he had to get back to running himself. He turned around and sprinted again, not in the way Stratos had told him, he wasn't about to lead this crazy stitchpunk to their home. He just sprinted into some low, dry grass, somewhere near the base of the tower.

The pink stitchpunk finally pulled the cloak off, only to be welcomed with the sight of her captives scattering about like frantic ants. She couldn't spot Blake, but she did spot Stratos just as she ducked into the grass. "Oh~ I see, you're clever little rabbits," the pink stitchpunk said in an intrigued tone before turning her mood on its head. "Well not for long!" she screamed as she ran off into a snake burrow, only to emerge again with a sword in hand. She saw Exos with the beast, but at this point Exos was running ahead of it, making it seem like she was being chased. The pink stitchpunk let this go and charged towards where Stratos hid.  
During this time, Stratos was keeping low as she shuffled through the grass. She stopped for a moment as something glinted in the corner of her optic. When she looked over to see what it was, she spotted Blake's knife.

Blake scrambled through the low brush, the pink stitchpunk's yell striking terror in him. Was she after him? He dared glance back for a moment. No. But it looked like she was after someone. He stopped running. Dammit. He couldn't just let this crazy stitchpunk kill his new friend. But were they worth possibly dying for? He grappled with himself and this dilemma before starting to creep quickly around to where the pink stitchpunk was running.

The pink stitchpunk slowed her pace as she approached the grass patch where Stratos was hiding. She stood at the edge, waiting until Stratos moved again.  
Stratos reached over and grabbed the knife, causing a flash of light to peer through the grass for a split second, but that was all it took.  
The pink stitchpunk leapt into action and made her way through the grass, causing it to rustle and startle Stratos to get moving again.

Blake quickened his pace, but started to simultaneously look for something he could use as a weapon. A piece of broken wood from the tower was all he could put his hands on. It would have to do. He rushed into the grass that Stratos and the pink stitchpunk were in, keeping low. Slowing his pace, he scanned through the plants for any sign of either of them.

Stratos was too frightened to really pay attention to where she went until she found herself on the other side of the grass. She made a turn, and sat still, staying in the grass in hopes that her pursuer would rush out and loose her.  
Meanwhile, Exos had gotten enough leeway to prepare for her next attempt as the beast was charging towards her. She waited for the right moment as the beast was about to pass her, reins flailing in the wind. The reins fell low, and Exos leapt for them, grabbing hold, and hurried her way up onto the beast's back. Taking hold of the reins, she pulled them back and called out, "Whoa!" The beast reared and bucked, refusing to cooperate.

Blake continued to creep forward, then was suddenly hit with an idea. He moved a little to the side, then chucked the wood back to where he had been coming from making an obvious noise and sound. Hopefully the diversion was enough for him to find Stratos and get her to safety.

The sudden noise made the pink stitchpunk stop and look towards the area the sounds came from. She seemed leery, but cautiously went over anyway, thinking her prey may have slipped by or that another one was near. Stratos heard the rustle of grass move farther away, but still sat and waited a little longer to make sure her next move wouldn't be noticed.

Blake waited a few moments before continuing forward. It wasn't until he looked to the side and saw the glint of metal fingers through the grass. With his palms out, he slowly moved toward Stratos, trying not to startle her. When he saw her face finally, he smiled, then jerked his head to the side, indicating they should move.

Stratos was startled when Blake appeared, but not to the point of making noise. She smile back in relief that he came to find her and nodded in agreement to get moving. It took a while, but Exos managed to get the beast to calm down and work with her, considering she seemed a lot nicer than its previous owner. She looked around to see where the others were, noticing the pink stitchpunk among the grass patches.

Blake moved in front of Stratos, creeping slowly until they were nearly out of the grass. He peered out to see if the pink stitchpunk was anywhere outside of their little patch, and when he didn't see her, walked out of the plants and quickened his pace.

Stratos carefully followed behind. She was deeply afraid they might be spotted but kept close to Blake.

Blake looked over and saw Exos riding the beast. How she had done it was a mystery to him but it was a blessing nonetheless. He tried to signal to her silently. She could pick them up and then they'd be out of there in no time.

Exos noticed Blake and Stratos, but she also spotted the pink stitchpunk viciously looking through the grass, getting closer to the edge and possibly seeing Stratos and Blake. She pointed away from the grass, signaling her friends to move out farther and steered the beast to make a wide turn around the grass and away from the pink stitchpunk.  
Stratos followed the signal, taking Blake's hand and leading him along.

Blake let Stratos lead him, his gears speeding up and his shaking returning. He had to trust in Exos and Stratos. They were going to get out of this together and alive.

Once the two were out far enough, Exos halted the beast in front of them and reached a hand down to help them up. Stratos handed Blake his knife back before clambering up onto the beast's back.  
The pink stitchpunk rushed out of the grass, sword slicing down the dry blades. She was definitely exasperated, and it showed on her face as she spotted the others with her mount. She screamed out in what could only be reminiscent to a battle cry as she charged towards them, blade poised for attack.

Blake scrambled up into the beasts back while shouting, "Go go go go go!" at Exos. He wanted to get as far away from this crazy stitchpunk as he could, as fast as he could too.

Exos didn't need to be told twice, much less five times.  
She snapped the reins and yelled, "Yah!" spurring the beast to gallop away, leaving the pink stitchpunk to stumble to a halt and throw her sword at them in frustration, which didn't actually fly all that far, making her more upset.  
Stratos looked back to see their assailant throwing a tantrum, then looked up at the tower, keeping in mind which way they needed to go as Exos kept the beast running forward, away from the tower.  
Stratos turned to Exos. "Once we're far enough away, we need to take a right to get home. Okay?' she said loudly over the beast's clanking mechanisms as it ran.  
"Got it!" Exos said as she kept focused on going straight.


	3. Chapter 3

Blake wrapped his arms around Stratos instinctively, his shaking taking over. As they got farther and farther away from the pink stitchpunk, his fear started to ebb, but the shaking only got worse. Was he crying? Maybe. Probably. Yes. He was so relieved to be out of the pink stitchpunk's grasp, he couldn't help but sob into the back of Stratos' shoulder.

Stratos' optics grew wide in surprise when she felt Blake bury himself into her shoulder and felt him shake. She softened herself though and placed a hand on one his arms around her torso, while the other held onto the beast to keep steady. "It's going to be alright now. We're safe. You're safe, and I'll make sure that it stays that way," Stratos said in a soft tone, uncertain he'd hear her.

Blake barely heard her but he did. Stratos' words melted into him, calmed him. He trusted her. He trusted Exos too. As they rode farther and farther away, he started to calm, and loosened his grip on Stratos. "Thank you," he eventually said.

Stratos looked back at him with a smile and said, "No problem," in a kind but audible tone. She then looked beyond him, seeing that they've gone a fair ways from the tower. Turning back to Exos she said, "Turn now." Exos did as she was told and turned right.  
"We'll be a little off from where we were supposed to arrive at, but we'll reach the town anyway since it's not small.”

"How far are we from your home?" In all honestly, all Blake wanted to do was sleep somewhere he wasn't afraid of being chased out of or woken up in. A nice pile of blankets. Safety and security. He was getting his nerves fried by the constant threat of machines and rouge stitchpunks.

"We're still far off. The buildings are barely visible from here," Exos said as she kept her sight focused on the horizon.  
It was true, the buildings looked quite a lot like distant hills, except for the obvious differences between hill and roof shapes, but the obscure coloring and lack of other refinement might be due to the dirt in the wind.  
There might have been a storm going through near the town.  
Stratos wanted to keep going until they finally made it to the outskirts at least, but she too was tired and knew that the others are too.  
"Exos, how long do you think you can stay up?" she asked.  
"I can stay up for a few more hours yet, but if we don't want to stop, somebody else is going to have to take the reins," Exos said.  
Stratos looked around the beast, measuring up its chest cavity.  
There was a small space between the ribs and the engine, and the rib cage seemed to curve just enough that if someone were to sleep there, they wouldn't fall out.  
"Well, it's not the most preferable sleeping spot, but it could work," Stratos said before leaning back to Blake.  
"Blake, would you be okay with sleeping in the rib cage so we don't have to stop and look for a place to rest? I'd really rather not stop, not after all we've been through today," Stratos asked, seeming desperate to keep going.

"Yeah. Yeah of course," Blake obliged immediately. As much as the idea of sleeping inside the beast scared him, he didn't want to stop either. Anything to keep them going and arriving home faster.

Stratos tapped Exos' shoulder and said, "Exos, stop for a moment."  
Exos pulled on the reins and called out, "Whoa!" making the beast slow to a stop.  
Stratos hopped down. "Blake and I are going to sleep in the beast's rib cage. When you get tired, stop and wake me up and I'll take over," she informed Exos.  
"If you're sure about it, then alright. I'll wake you in a few hours then," Exos said even though she didn't really think the idea seemed all that pleasant.  
Stratos hoisted herself into the rib cage. There wasn't a lot of head room, but at least there was enough space for the two of them to sleep next to each other without being too much in the other's personal space.

Blake hopped off, his anxiety suddenly spiking from their stop. He didn't realize how much he wanted, needed, to keep going. With trembling arms he lifted himself into the rib cage and awkwardly made himself as comfortable as possible with Stratos. He gave her a small smile before realizing how naked he felt without his cloak. He just wanted to pull the hood over his optics and sleep. Oh well. He'd make another one soon. He still had his trusty blade, which he held close to his chest as he settled down and closed his shutters. It was amazing how quickly he fell asleep.

"You good down there?" Exos asked.  
"Yes, we're good," Stratos answered.  
With that, Exos snapped the reins and called the beast to go.  
It wasn't the smoothest ride, but also not as bumpy as Stratos thought it'd be. It ran rather gracefully for a blind creature.  
She closed her optics and soon fell asleep.  
Exos, now alone and feeling safer as they got closer to the town with every stride, her mind started to wander. She thought of how exciting it was to be riding the beast, that she was controlling where it took her. She wondered what the others would think when she told them about it or even showed them. Faux praise and anxiety-induced worries filled her mind concerning such things. After a while, she just thought that no matter what happens, it'll just be good to be home again.

Blake, huddled in the bowels of the beast, had no easy rest. His sleeping mind was plagued by images of the pink stitchpunk. She terrified him like no beast could. Yes, she brought death just as they did, but she did it for fun, not on a programmed instinct.  
He dreamt of what she might have done to him, had they not escaped. Unspeakable horrors that had him screaming and begging to die. Suddenly, his screams weren't just in his head.  
With a jolt, he was woken by his own nightmare, yelling nonsense, fear-charged words. The nightmares were still happening. He was disoriented. He had forgotten where he was. Panicking now in earnest, he sat up and whacked his head hard on the top of the beast's rib cage. Crying out in pain and fear, he slashed the air with his blade, head swimming, hitting nothing.

With Blake screaming so close, he awoke Stratos in a panicked state. "Wh-what is going on!?" she asked as she turned and saw Blake swinging his knife wildly.  
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Blake stop! Stop!" Stratos cried out in fear as she pushed herself as far away from Blake as she could within the confines to the rib cage.  
She was frightened by his manic state and of getting hurt by his blade.  
The beast grew uneasy with the sudden activity and was also going into a panic, but Exos halted the beast and tried to keep it calm as she got down to see what the pandemonium was all about.

Stratos' cries of fear broke through the haze of terror that Blake's nightmare had put him in. He started to lose swinging power, and eventually dropped the knife as his head drooped over his chest. His shoulders shook as he cried, not realizing what he had done. "I'm sorry," he whispered, unable to look Stratos in the optics as he spoke. He hated that he had let a dream put him into such a state but the terror had been so real. His crying was partly due to it anyway.

She wanted to comfort him somehow, but the methods were lost to her in that moment. All she could do was wonder why he lashed out.  
"What the heck happened!?" Exos asked in a confused and upset tone as she ducked under the rib cage and picked up the knife from the ground.

Blake covered his face with his hands. "I'm sorry... I-It was just so real... I th-thought she was there..." he sobbed. The pink stitchpunk's laugh seemed to taunt him in his own mind. Wow, he had messed up big time, huh?

Stratos relaxed a bit more. "Hey, it's alright," she said in a soft tone as she allowed herself to go down near him.  
She reached her arms around him and pulled him close in a hug. "Look, you're going to be okay. It was just a bad dream. Everything is going to get better soon. I promise," she said in a kind and motherly tone.  
Exos stepped back and patiently waited for a command. She glanced at the knife in her hands and looked over it. She wondered if this was going to be a common thing, and if it was really safe to be around him if it were to be so.  
She pocketed the knife in her pouch. She didn't want him having it if he could potentially go into another night terror while she or Stratos were sleeping. She'd give it back when he was awake again.

Blake leaned into Stratos' kind touch, crying into her shoulder. "I-I was- I'm just so scared..." Even though he was still crying and shaking, the other stitchpunk's touch was calming him. He was glad to have her around. He was glad to have made a friend on this journey.

"I know, I know. It's okay. It's okay to be scared," Stratos softly said holding him a little tighter to try and comfort him more.  
Exos rubbed her arm, feeling awkward for just standing around at such a sensitive moment.

It took a few minutes for him to calm, but eventually, he did, pulling away from Stratos and giving her a weak smile and soft "Thank you".  
He turned to see Exos and suddenly felt terrible. "I didn't mean to stop us... I'm sorry.. We should keep going."

Exos held up her hands. "Hey, it's fine. It was for something important," she said, trying not to upset him.  
"Do you want me to take over?" Stratos asked Exos, now not feeling all that tired anymore.  
"Um... Yeah, sure," Exos said as she realized how tired she was.  
"Will you be alright, Blake?" Stratos asked.

Blake nodded before scooting out of the rib cage, letting Stratos exit. He stretched a little before hopping back inside. "Wake me up if you uh, need me," he said.

"Thank you," Stratos said to Blake as she climbed out of the rib cage. "I will."  
Exos then helped Stratos up. "You know how to ride, right?" she asked as Stratos took hold of the reins.  
“Yes, I've got it. Don't worry," Stratos said having paid attention to what Exos did before.  
"Aright. See ya' later," Exos said before joining Blake in the rib cage.  
"Sleep well," Stratos said as she waited for Exos to be ready.  
"You can go now," Exos said as she laid down with her back to Blake.  
With that, Stratos snapped the reins and called out, "Yah," getting the beast to start running again.

Blake tried to ignore the colder feeling Exos gave off in comparison to Stratos. He turned away from her, hiding his face. He tried his best to fall asleep as fast as he could.

Exos laid there for a while, watching the scenery fly by and the leg of the beast obstruct the view like the pendulum of a clock.  
Eventually, her optics closed and she fell asleep.  
Stratos found the task of keeping the beast going straight a little harder than imagined, but it only took a little effort on her part to stabilize the beast from veering too much. She kept for sights on the town slowly growing in the distance. They were getting so close. She figured by morning they'd reach the town and from there make their way to home. They'd stop at a few places to rest and gather supplies. She thought of how she lost Blake's cloak, and felt bad that she didn't have a chance to pick it up before. She almost panicked at the thought that they left his knife behind, but recalled Exos picking it up and figured she still had it. Stratos sighed, she couldn't wait to go home. She had enough adventure for one day.

**\------**

Blake yawned as he rested inside of the beast's rib cage. It was supposedly the day that he, Stratos, and Exos would reach their home, but he wasn't very outwardly excited about it. Fatigue plagued him now that his sleep was haunted by images of the pink stitchpunk. The nightmares that had him screaming and flailing had stopped but he still would wake with a start, panting and terrified of what his mind had just put him through. Any sleep he got wasn't very restful, leaving him sleepy the rest of the day. He offered to ride the machine, but he had no idea what to look for or where to go, so he eventually stopped asking. With a sigh he thought that all he wanted was a nice bed and a good rest. That would be all he needed to bring him back to 100%. Well, that and a new cloak.

Exos was at the reins when they reached the town's edge and halted the beast once they were past a couple houses.  
She hopped down and nudged Stratos awake through the beast's rib cage. “Hey! We've made it to town. Come on get up!"  
Stratos awoke upon hearing they made it, and was so excited that she forgot the low ceiling of the beasts engine, hitting her head as a result.  
The town was fairly intact, but not pristine. Many of the houses were missing large portions of their structures, while others were only mildly damaged. There were old decrepit machines scattered here and there, possibly have been shut down for centuries.

Blake laughed a little when Stratos hit her head but quickly followed up with an "Are you okay?". He slipped out of the rib cage and looked around. He had never seen a town like this before, it was very interesting and alluring. He would have been more curious were he not so tired. "So, uh, how far are we from your family? Do they live in one of these... buildings?"

Stratos laughed as well at her own silliness. "Yeah, I'm okay," she said with a smile. She climbed out of the rib cage and looked around, her face gleaming at the sight while remembering which direction to go.  
"We live closer to the center of the town, near the business district," Exos said.  
"Oh yes! We live in a house that I believe belonged to a wood carver! You'll love it! There's so many little knick-knacks and lovely boxes, and- and-" Stratos said excitedly.  
"Stratos, chill. You're sounding like Tropos," Exos said, her brow raised in concern.  
"Oh! Right sorry," Stratos said, slightly embarrassed. "It's just so good to be home again."  
"I think that hit in the head scrambled her brain," Exos said jokingly to Blake.

Blake chuckled at Exos' comment. She seemed to be warming up to him now that they had a while of uneventful travel between them. "I think you're right." He looked among the debris, truly wanting to explore but he knew they needed to press on and get home. Plus, he was really just too tired to start picking through piles of metal and dirt and wood and whatnot. "Stratos, you gonna ride now?"

"Nuh-uh. I'm staying behind the reins," Exos said, seeming unwilling to hand over the steering to the currently flighty Stratos.  
"Yeah, that's probably for the best, but I'm definitely going to be riding with Exos," Stratos concurred with Exos.  
"You riding up top with us, or do you need more sleep?" Exos asked, still holding onto her monotone manner of speech.

Blake hated to admit it but he was going to need to try to get some good rest. The fatigue was going to end up getting him sick if he couldn't find a way to slow his gears for more than an hour at a time. He could already feel his body starting to overheat, but he didn't tell the other two. He'd rather not have them worry about him.  
"I'm gonna sleep," he said with a sheepish smile. "Thanks though." With a yawn and a wave, he crawled back into the rib cage and curled up.

"Alright, sleep well," Exos said with a wave.  
"We'll wake you when we get home," Stratos said with a smile.  
Exos and Stratos hopped onto the beast and started making their way through the town. It would be a an hour or so before Stratos asked Exos to stop for a moment.  
"Why?" Exos asked when she halted the beast.  
"I want to get some things from this house. We lost a lot of supplies before," Stratos said as she hopped down. "Stay with Blake. I'll only be a little while."  
Exos sighed. "Fine, but be careful, and don't take too long," she said.  
"When am I not careful?" Stratos said before running into the house.  
Exos moved the beast to lay down by the steps and hopped down to pet the beast's muzzle.

Blake woke with a start, gasping a little as he clutched his chest. He was sure he had just been stabbed there by the pink stitchpunk, but it was yet another dream. He sighed and rolled over. It took him a little to realize that they weren't moving, and in fact, that the beast was laying down. Had they already arrived? Why didn't they wake him? He clumsily crawled out of the rib cage and stood up, brushing himself off. He looked at Exos with a puzzled expression. "Why did we stop? Are we there?" he asked, scanning the area. "Where's Stratos?"

Exos turned to Blake and raised a hand. "One: supply stop. Two: we're still in the outskirts of the housing district. Three: she's in the house," Exos answered, gesturing her hand with each number she spoke. She seemed bored with waiting around.  
There was a noise of something hitting the floor coming from the house.  
"Dropped something," Exos said in a sarcastic manner, which was followed by Stratos' muffled voice saying, "Butter fingers!" in a whimsical manner.

Blake sighed tiredly, rubbing his forehead a little and closing his shutters. "Why? We're almost there, what do we even need?" He was annoyed they had stopped and just wanted their journey to finally end. He was over the excitement of meeting Stratos and Exos' family. He just wanted a bed to get some good rest on.

Exos shrugged. “She wanted to replace the stuff we lost, or something dumb like that," she responded, growing annoyed herself. She didn't like stopping as much as he, but she didn't want to hear him complaining. "Just go back to sleep. We're still hours away from home," Exos said dismissively.

Blake shook his head and wordlessly crawled back into the rib cage. The lack of sleep wasn't just affecting his body, it was affecting his mood. His fuse was short and he was easily annoyed, but what else was new?

It would be another ten minutes before Stratos came back from the house, arms full of trinkets and bits of fabric.  
Exos noticed Stratos and exasperatedly sighed before climbing the stairs to her. "What didn't you take!?" Exos said upon meeting Stratos, aggravation in her voice.  
"Sorry," Stratos said, feeling bad because of Exos' tone. "I just wanted to get some things for-"  
"I don't really care. Just put it in and let's get going already," Exos interrupted as she opened her pouch wide. Stratos sighed, feeling like she messed up big time, but didn't quite see the harm behind her intentions. She placed the trinkets and folded bits of fabric in the pouch, which made the pouch bulge in earnest. Stratos kept hold of one of the fabric items though, which hung around her neck like a cape. Exos thought she looked stupid with the cape, but was too annoyed to care anymore. The two returned to the beast's back and resumed the journey.

Blake could hear Exos angry statements from inside the rib cage and covered his audials. He didn't want fights, he just wanted to get home.

After a long while in silence, the two stitchpunks seemed to have calmed down. A few more hours pass before they reached a familiar pile of debris that stretched across the street.  
"We're almost there!" Stratos cheered.

Blake whooped unenthusiastically from inside the beast when he heard Stratos. When they stopped he hoped it was right in front of their home, and nowhere else.

Stratos was getting tired of today's mood with Blake and Exos. She took off the cape and dangled it down between the beast's ribs so Blake could reach it. "This is for you by the way," Stratos said, not feeling too enthusiastic anymore. "It's just a temporary replacement until I can make you a better one later."  
The cape was actually a hooded cloak made from a black fabric. The clasp was a simple silver safety pin, much was like the one on his old cloak, only cleaner.

Blake was shocked by the sudden act of kindness and generosity. "I... thank you," he said, taking the cloak and running it through his fingers. It wasn't like his old one, and looked a bit small for him, but it would do. He clumsily put it on while still in the rib cage, accidentally stabbing himself with the pin a few times.

Stratos felt a little better Blake thanked her, but it was only a momentary feeling. There were subtle noises coming from the other side of the debris as they approached it. Exos halted the beast and had it back away in case there was another beast.

Blake noticed their stop and peeked his head out. "We there?" Even though he was annoyed, Stratos' gift had softened him up, and he wasn't about to lose it if they weren't.

"Not yet. Stay quiet," Stratos said in a slightly hushed tone.  
The noises grew louder as its source got closer to the top.

Blake could hear the slight fear in Stratos' voice. He quietly slipped out of rib cage, senses heightened, ready to fight. He wished he had his blade, but Exos had kept it since he dropped it.

There was a moment where everything felt so tense that air could have stiffened as the noise was almost at the peak. Exos prepared for the worst but was surprised to see a small purple head with a blue hood peer over the edge. "Thermos!?" Exos shouted in surprise as the purple head ducked at the sight of the beast. Not a second later did the one named Thermos pop back up and took a better look.  
"Exos!?" she called in disbelief. Exos dropped everything and leapt off the beast as Thermos swiftly descended the debris towards them. There peered another purple stitchpunk with a stern, yet surprised expression. This one wielded a staff with car keys attached to both ends and appeared to be a lot taller than Thermos as they too descended to debris.

Blake sighed with relief as a smile graced his face. They had made it. Finally, they were home. He approached the new stitchpunks slowly, letting them reconnect with their family before he jumped in.

Thermos ran over to Exos and nearly bowled her over as she hugged Exos. Exos laughed as she held Thermos.  
"I can't believe it! You're back!" Thermos said in a joyful and trembling voice, as if crying from pure happiness.  
"You didn't really think I was gonna' die that easily, did you?!" Exos in a playful and genuine manner, much like best friends would talk to each other.  
Thermos laughed as they parted. She noticed Stratos get down from the beast and join them. "Miss Stratos! I'm so glad you're both back safe and sound!" she said as she went up and took Stratos' hands.  
"You and me both!" Stratos replied, smiling wide.  
The taller stitchpunk joined them. "And you brought a pet?" she asked, her voice deep and intimidating as she watched the beast.  
"We didn't bring just a pet. We also brought a friend. Blake! Come meet Thermos and Atmos!" Stratos ushered him over with a smile.

Blake smiled and walked over to the little group, giving a small smile and a wave. "Hey! It's nice to meet you." He looked up at Atmos, a little intimidated by her height.

"Blake is from the wastelands. He found us after we escaped the bird beast, and has been a huge help in getting us back home," Stratos mentioned casually.  
"Goodness! Well, it is a pleasure to meet you, mister Blake," Thermos said in a polite and welcoming manner.  
"The wastelands, huh? You must be a fairly good survivalist then, Blake. Thank you for helping Stratos and Exos get back home in one piece," Atmos said, her tone soft as she seemed impressed by his origins.

Blake was flattered by Stratos' praise. He rubbed the back of his neck and looked away. "You're welcome... But it wasn't all me. They did so much to get us back here! Stratos had so many good plans and Exos got that beast for us..." He trailed off, his mind stuck on the circumstances with which the beast was obtained. The pink stitchpunk's laugh echoed in his head.

Atmos placed her free hand on her hip. "Oooh, so that thing's yours?" Atmos said lightheartedly as she turned to Exos. "Since when did you become a beast tamer?"  
"I've always been a beast tamer," Exos lied in a cocky manner.  
"Yeah-huh, and I bet you're going to ask me if you can keep it in the house," Atmos said.  
"Well, it did cross my mind. Got a problem with it?" Exos responded in a snarky way.  
"You know I do. We can't keep a beast from the wastelands. It could attack someone," Atmos said, sounding like a concerned yet stern parent.  
"It's blind and totally obedient! It won't hurt anyone," Exos said defensively.  
Atmos sighed and looked at the beast, seeing the wrench in its eye sockets.  
"Tell you what, if we remove the reins and it continues to behave, you can keep it. You know what I'll do if it tries to attack," Atmos said with a serious tone.

Blake listened to the exchange, yawning but trying to hide it. "I uh, don't mean to interrupt but could I get-get a place to sleep?" He was sure he looked sickly in some sense. Hunched shoulders, unconsciously hugging himself. He didn't realize how terrible he must look until he spoke and heard his own weak voice. His small burst of energy from getting here and meeting Atmos and Thermos was gone, and he desperately needed some good rest.

The group looked over at him. It was a welcomed interruption for three of them.  
"Oh dear! Yes, of course, mister Blake. Our house only a little walk from here," Thermos said in a concerned manner.  
"We can get there faster on my mount," Exos said, looking over at Atmos.  
Atmos glared, but gave in. "Fine, but this discussion is far from over."  
"Yes!" Exos said before rushing back onto the beast.  
Thermos escorted Blake to the beast before climbing up with Exos. Atmos looked at Stratos, who shrugged in a c'est la vie manner before joining Thermos and Exos. Atmos shook her head lightly as she too joined them.

It seemed a little crowded on the beast's back now, but he decided not to make it weird by crawling into its rib cage. He wrapped his arms a little tighter around himself, feeling cold, which only meant he was getting too hot. Not good. He hoped nobody noticed his excess heat.

Exos had the beast take them to a two story house, accompanied by other houses of similar style and turned into an ally until they reached the back of the house. There was a tall wooden fence, but the small spaces between the boards showed lush plant life hiding behind the fence. Atmos got down and pulled off the bottom piece of fence, revealing a large hole.  
Exos had the beast lay down near the entrance so the others could get down easily. Stratos and Thermos got down and waited for Blake and Exos to join them before going in. Exos got down and turned the reins around so she could guide the beast.

Blake dismounted the beast and walked through the hole, barely noticing the lush vegetation he was walking into. "Oh!" he said in a mildly surprised tone.

Thermos moved ahead into the vibrant green plants.  
Stratos took Blake's hand. "Follow me. You can easily get lost in all these plants. They've grown so much this year," she said calmly as she carefully lead him towards the house.  
Exos was about to lead the beast in through the hole, but Atmos blocked her.  
"Nuh-uh! That stays out here until it is safe to have around," Atmos said firmly.  
"Oh, come on!" Exos complained.  
"None of that, young lady!" Atmos scolded before pointing to a tipped over receptacle bin. “Put it over there. It'll stay dry in there if it rains."  
Exos groaned as she lead the beast to the bin.  
"Stay in here," Exos said to the beast as she left it there.  
The beast made loud noises as it turned inside the bin so it faced the opening and laid down.  
"Thank you," Atmos said as Exos charged through the entrance.  
Exos wasn't particularly happy with the situation, but at least Atmos didn't kill it on the spot.  
Atmos took the piece of fence and replaced it as she entered the greenery.

Blake let Stratos lead him, too tired to find his way around anyway. He put his arm out and touched the plants as he walked passed. He had never seen so much green in one spot in his life. The wasteland was so empty and desert-like. This patch of land was so dense with greenery, it was as if it was making up for the lack of it elsewhere.

Stratos lead Blake to the house, but instead of the back door, they stood at a large plant that grew in front of a tiny window near the ground. It was obviously a basement window and lights could be seen inside through the stems of the plant. The glass appeared to have been broken ages ago, and most of the shards were removed.  
"Be careful of how far you walk, there's a sheer drop to the floor shortly after entering," Stratos warned as she stepped over some of the plant stems in the way and entered the window to wait for him to follow her.

They lived here how long and hadn't done anything about a sheer drop right into the basement? It was a fleeting thought; there one moment, gone the next as he stepped through the window carefully. He would have been much more fascinated by all of this if he had not been so sleep-deprived and on the edge of overheating.

Inside it was more noticeable that the basement walls were made from brick and the ceiling has exposed beams of wood. There were a few crude light fixtures hanging down, but they weren't what was lighting the space. Instead there were numerous strings of lights strewn about the place, glowing brightly. One strand hung behind a thick pipe that ran up from a furnace through the ceiling.  
"Wait here, Blake," Stratos said as she stood by the pipe.  
The pipe was bracketed to the wall, and tied around it was a fishing net which dropped down to the floor. It wasn't the fastest way down, but it worked for the most part.  
Stratos was about to head down but soon a platform greeted them. Stratos looked down and saw that Thermos had sent their supply pulley up for Blake. It was a crude system of a simple twine strung to on of the ceiling beams and needed a fair amount of strength to keep up when the platform is too heavy.  
Stratos took the platform and braced it. "Take a sit on here, Blake. It may seem scary but it'll be better than making you climb down in your state," she said, growing more concerned for Blake's condition.

Blake was looking around the basement as Stratos spoke, and barely heard any of what she said. He faced her and saw that she was expecting him to do something, then saw the platform. "Oh. Thanks.." he said quietly as he gingerly stepped into the platform and sat. Sitting was a dangerous game. Now that he was down, he wasn't sure how much effort he wanted to put into getting up.

Stratos signaled to Thermos that Blake was on the platform. Thermos nodded and carefully lowered him down. Stratos proceeded to climb down the fishing net in the meantime. Exos and Atmos shortly followed.  
"Thermos? Did you and Atmos find something out on your patrol?" a soft and calm female voice asked.  
"Oh! Miss Mesos. Well, yes we did," Thermos said as she concentrated on lowering the platform.  
Mesos took hold of the rope and helped her get Blake down. As the platform softly landed on the ground, Thermos and Mesos rushed to Blake.  
"Goodness! Who is this?" Mesos asked as she knelt down and looked at him with a worried expression.  
"This is mister Blake. He found miss Stratos and Exos out in the wastelands and brought them back home," Thermos explained.  
"Stratos and Exos are back? Oh, how wonderful!" Mesos said with joy. "But first thing's first is getting this poor soul to a bed!" she added, showing great concern for Blake. "Come with me, Blake. I'll take you to a place to rest," Mesos said as she gently took his arm and put it over her shoulders and then lifted him to his feet.

Blake had closed his shutters as Thermos brought him down. The conversation between her and Mesos was lost to him. When Mesos grabbed him, he was startled, not expecting to be touched by anyone, but he was too tired to truly jolt or make a fuss. He opened his shutters only after they started walking and he realized how hard it was to keep them open. His body was really shutting down. This had happened to him before, but over a shorter period of time. Drawing it out over the few days was making it worse, he thought.

Mesos led him to a octagonal display case made from metal with glass panels, only the glass was painted over with strange yet whimsical images. She opened the case from the one panel that wasn't painted and inside were soft fabrics and even a small pillow perfect for stitchpunks. Unlike the outside, the inside of the glass panes had just solid colors. Mesos helped Blake into a resting position in the soft fabrics.

Blake felt the fabric and the pillow and a smile graced his face. He curled up, taking the pillow under his head, and closed his shutters. It was heavenly, how comfortable he felt in that moment. Sleep overtook him in moments and for once, he wasn't immediately greeted by the pink stitchpunk.

Mesos left the door ajar for him to get plenty of air, having noticed how hot he was. She gently smiled in seeing Blake so comfortable and already seemed better now. She left him to join the others at the furnace.


	4. Chapter 4

Blake slept for hours and hours and hours, nearly a whole day, woken by the occasional nightmare, but it was truly the best sleep he had had in probably months. He knew all he needed was a good bed and the knowledge that he was truly safe. His body cooled and he got the rest he needed. Waking up in earnest was a little disorienting, though. He had very little memory of entering the house and being brought to the bed. He sat up, looking around and yawning.

Light was peering through the painted glass in a warm glow and even showed faint remnants of the paintings on the outside. They mostly pertained to simple subjects like the night sky and sunsets, or flowers and butterflies. The way they were painted though was abstract but not unappealing. Little could be seen outside the door.  
The bed sat near a corner of the room, and the door faced that corner. The wall in front had shelves filled with wooden things and bottles of paint. What was more noticeable was the wooden cube that sat outside the door. It was painted in bright colors, much like the paintings on the glass panes, and what sat on top of the cube was a folded piece of paper with Blake's name written on it and his knife.

Blake got out of the bed slowly, not only entranced by the paintings and light but also somewhat unwilling to leave the comfort of the blankets. He noticed the cube immediately and walked to it. He smiled as he picked up his knife and the paper. He turned it around to make sure there wasn't anything else written on it.

On the back of the paper said: "Unfold for message," in hasty lettering, unlike the front which was done in a smooth and attractive font. It may have been added at the last minute for 'just in case.'

Blake unfolded it. He wondered why there was such a difference in handwriting. In fact, he wondered if the same person had written the two things or not. He didn't really know what Exos and Stratos' handwriting looked like.

Inside the lettering was nice, but more casual than the front, probably to save time and space on the paper.  
The note said:  
"Morning! We hope you've slept well. If you're still tired, rest some more. When you're feeling good enough, have a look around. You'll run into someone eventually, or they'll run into you. Anyway! We can't wait to see you up and about. -Stratos."  
Underneath Stratos' name was tinier handwriting in the similar hasty font that said, "and Tropos, Exos, Atmos, Mesos, Ionos, and Thermos," although the names hit the edge and were turned to run up the next, much like how a child would write.

Blake turned the paper to keep reading the names. Were those all of then that lived there? Huh. After reading it all, he put the note back under his knife. He had no pocket in the cloak to keep either items on his person anyway. With that he left the room and started wondering around.

He was welcomed by a cluttered sight. While the room was rather large, considering it was a basement, there were numerous things clustered in areas of the floor.  
The most notable was a large quilt serving as a rug, a huge pile of building blocks on the opposite side of the room, and an area that looked to be a painting space, given the amount of dried paint splatters scattered there.  
The shelves were filled with numerous objects, both wooden and not.  
It was obvious that the stitchpunks that lived here had hoarded many things in their time and kept these objects anywhere and everywhere.

Blake walked among the building blocks, looking at everything. It was so full of stuff, so opposite of his life in his colony. Every glint and gleam caught his optics, drawing him this way and that, and everything he found was fascinating. He had never seen most of it before.

"Oh my gosh! Is that him!? It must be him because he's the only stranger here! I believe he's finally up!" said female voice in a fast and overly excited manner. "Everyone! He's up! Blake's awake! Haha! I made a rhyme."  
The owner of the voice was a tall, pale blue stitchpunk with a cream patch on the left side of her front, and had little pearls strung from her head.  
They were standing on top of the workbench with an orange stitchpunk in pink clothing by the looks of it and Exos.  
Upon hearing the pale blue stitchpunk's excited shouting, Stratos, Thermos and a gold colored stitchpunk came out from the other room and Atmos appeared out from behind the fishing net on the furnace and climbed down.  
The three stitchpunks on the workbench also came down to meet him.

Blake laughed at the pale blue stitchpunk's antics. The sight of everyone coming to meet and greet him was so heartwarming. He grinned at Stratos in a way that was trying to say, 'We made it. We're home. This is awesome'. Looking back over to everyone else, he waved. "Sorry I've been so busy," he joked. "Is this everyone?"

Stratos smiled back at him and said, "Yes this is everyone. Blake, meet Tropos." She motioned her hand towards the pale blue stitchpunk, who now looked no taller than Exos.  
"Hiya, friend! So good to finally meet the great Blake! Stratos told us all about you and your epic journey in getting here!" Tropos said enthusiastically, taking his hand and vigorously shaking it.  
"Tropos, you're going to make him dizzy," the orange stitchpunk said as she placed a hand calmly on Tropos' shoulder.  
"Oh, right! Sorry about that," Tropos said before letting go and backing off a tad to give him space.  
"My name is Mesos. It's a pleasure to meet you, Blake," the orange stitchpunk introduced herself, with a gentle bow of her head. "Did you sleep well?"

Blake felt embarrassed at the praise he was receiving. "I-I'm not that great..." The crazy handshake indeed made him a little dizzy and had him stumbling a little. "It's nice to meet you, Tropos." Wow, they all seemed to have these funny names.  
As Mesos bowed her head, he gave a small nod in return. "I did, thank you."

"Of course you did! You got to sleep in Mesos' room and she has the best taste for fabrics! Both for sleeping on and dressing up in!" Tropos praised as she leaned over on Mesos' side, draping an arm over her shoulders like a drunken friend.  
Mesos giggled softy and looked like she was about to say something when the gold stitchpunk intervened.  
"Yes, she does lovely taste. As do I and dear Stratos," the gold stitchpunk said with a flamboyant manner of speaking.  
"My name is Ionos. It truly is a pleasure to finally meet you, Blake," the gold stitchpunk said, her tone sounding very dramatic and welcoming, but something about the way she looked over him seemed to beg to differ.

Blake smiled softly at Mesos when she giggled. Tropos seemed to be quite the trip, but when Ionos introduced herself, he was second-guessing that thought. He could tell the difference in tone and her look. He had been met with worse scrutiny before and was no stranger to harsh looks. He gave her a grin and nodded in return for her introduction. "The pleasure's mine. Thank you for your hospitality." Whenever he met someone that might not like him, he was always as gracious and kind as could be.

"Now that you've met everyone, you can learn what there is to do around here," Stratos said, choosing to ignore Ionos' demeanor.  
"Oh! Oh, oh, oh! Can I?! Can I tell him?! Please!" Tropos said with her hand raised, looking like an excited child.  
Stratos laughed. “Sure, Tropos. You can tell him," she agreed with a smile.  
"Yes!" Tropos cheered with a fist pump.  
Stratos looked to Blake. “If you need anything, I'll be in the other room. The others will be around so if you need a moment of peace from Tropos, feel free to call someone over to help you escape," she said with a bit of a chuckle at the end before walking off.  
"Ah, yes! We still need to discuss colors for that vest, my dear!" Ionos said as she quickly followed behind.  
"It's good to see you in better spirits today, mister Blake," Thermos said before leaving towards the workbench.  
"Good luck with Tropos," Exos said as she passed Blake to follow Thermos.

Blake smiled and waved and nodded to everyone as they left to do their own thing. Though, the idea of having such a high energy tour guide seemed to already tire him out. He wanted to take it slow after all that had happened, but he wasn't going to show Tropos that he was anything but excited to learn. "So..."

Mesos stayed behind. "Don't worry. I'll be sure Tropos doesn't get you too run down," she said with a soft smile.  
"Aw! Everyone's makin' me sound like a handful! I can't help it if I'm excited to meet a new friend," Tropos said in a slightly upset tone. "After all, we haven't had a guest in so long, especially one that is a fellow stitchpunk!" she added in a cheerier tone.

Blake smiled at Mesos, glad to have a little buffer between him and Tropos. Chuckling at Tropos' last comment. "I'm sure you get machines trying to take naps in here all the time huh?" he joked.

Mesos giggled at his joke.  
"Oh! Speaking of machines! You know that beast you rode? It lives in the yard now!" Tropos mentioned. "Yeah! Turns out it really likes to frolic in the herbs."

Blake grinned. "Good, I'm glad. It's a good machine. Helped us more than anything else on our way here." He went quiet as he thought of the pink stitchpunk, how terrible she had probably been to the beast. He suddenly felt terrible about it, but reminded himself that it was now happy in the "herbs", whatever those were. It was enjoying itself after its ordeal, just like he should be doing right now. "Oh, Mesos, thank you for letting me sleep in your bed," he said, turning to her as he spoke.

Mesos noticed his expression change as he went silent, but smiled softly as he spoke to her. "I'm glad it served you well," she said.  
"So! Shall we begin our tour? Anything you want to know before we go, Blake?" Tropos asked eagerly.

"Um," Blake started. "Was this the building you were uh, made in? I know Stratos said you were all made by a human..."

Mesos seemed uneasy with the question, and Tropos noticed this, but played it cool. They knew Blake was born instead of created like them, but there was more to their creation that they weren't sure of sharing just yet. "Well, yes. This is the building that most of us were built in. You see, our human made Atmos, Stratos, and me in another part of town, but had to leave due to- bad things. So she found this place and this is were the rest of us were created," Tropos regaled the tale with a smile.

'Bad things' huh? Must have been the war his elders spoke about. Maybe the other place was destroyed and she relocated. "Well that's cool." He looked around, wonder what a human would look like living in this room. "So, what do you have to show me?"

"What isn't there to see!?" Tropos said, stretching her arms out for dramatic effect.  
Off the corner of her optics though, she spotted the dresser that sat between the door ways.  
"Well, over there is Ionos' room!" she said, pointing a finger towards it.  
"She sleeps in that open drawer there, and doesn't like people 'snooping' in there. I did once and threw such a fit. It was like facing a harpy and a dragon all at once! She's scary for one so small..." Tropos said, her tone shrinking as it reached the last bit.  
"So you uh, should just avoid that area..." she added with a nervous clap of her hands.

Blake was a bit confused and concerned about the story Tropos told. First of all, he didn't really know what a dragon or a harpy were, and second, he wondered if Ionos was hiding something from them, and he didn't like that idea. But he didn't let on his thoughts. Secretly, he wanted to investigate her little room but he would indeed get in trouble. Only if he got caught, that is. He chuckled. "Don't worry, I won't go snooping." No promises though. He'd be _investigating_ anyway, not snooping. "What else? This is a pretty big place. Is there anything up those stairs?" he asked, pointing to the doorway that contained a flight of them.

"The rest of the house is up there, but we stay down here. Atmos thinks it's too open and easy for beasts to sneak in," Tropos explained. "Nothin' like taking a nap on the couch and waking up to a beast pouncing on the cushions, catapulting you up in the air like a rubber ball!" she added with a laugh.  
"Perhaps we should let Blake know were the rest of us sleep, and help him establish a space for his own living quarters," Mesos suggested.  
"Oh, yeah! Stratos was fussin' about that, wasn't she?" Tropos recalled.

Blake chuckled. Tropos must have personal experience with such an encounter. Smiling, he said, "Yeah I'd like my own bed. I'd hate to take someone's bed again."

"Then let's go show you all the potential options we have to offer!" Tropos said enthusiastically as she stepped to his side hooked on arm around one of his.  
"You could sleep in a box, a bowl, or even in a bottle, if you're into sleeping in small spaces! Pillows, hammocks, drawers, even doll houses and bird houses are available!" Tropos listed as she dragged him off towards the workbench, Mesos following behind.  
Tropos pointed a jewelry box that was tipped on its backside and had fabric pouring out of it, hiding under the workbench. "That's Thermos' bed, and is a fine example of what sleeping in a box can be like. Relatively private, while allowing ample room for running out or entertaining friends," she said with a salesman-like attitude.

'Entertaining friends' huh? Blake thought the statement held a double-meaning before realizing that everybody living here was essentially family and that was gross. He quickly pushed the thought out of his head before speaking again. "I think a box might do me well. I certainly don't like cramped spaces. Sleeping in that beast taught me that." He used the word 'sleep' loosely.

"Ah! Open space is more you're style, then? Right-o then let's see..." Tropos said, dragging him off towards a shelf filled with boxes of all different sizes and shapes. Some had decorative carvings of animals or flowers, while others were more plain and simple. Most of them were left unpainted, but there were a few that weren't.  
"Feel free to test 'em out! There are different ways to sit the box too! So it all depends on your personal taste!" Tropos said with a smile.  
"Be sure to pick one that has a lot of extra space, since it'll also have fabric inside it too," Mesos suggested.

Blake looked over his options, lifting some to get a better look. After a few minutes of silent deliberation, he finally chose a relatively large box with some simple nature carvings on it. "I like this one. I'll stuff it full of fabric so it's nice and comfy."

"Excellent choice!" Tropos said with a clap of her hands.  
Mesos smiled. "It is a lovely box," she agreed.  
"Now all we have to do is find you a spot for your bed!" Tropos cheered.  
"I think we should leave Blake to find that spot for himself later. We can't linger around and make him rush on such an important decision," Mesos gently interjected. "But we can show him where to find the fabric to fill the bed with."  
"Ooo, goody! We can visit Stratos and see how her project is going!" Tropos said excitedly.  
Mesos giggled.

Blake was beyond grateful for Mesos being around to curb Tropos' enthusiasm. "Thank you," he said softly to her as they headed to Stratos. He was so happy to finally be in such a home environment, and excited to get settled in.

"No problem," Mesos softly responded as she walked with him while Tropos rushed ahead. They lead Blake to a much smaller room.  
"Hello, Stratos! We've come looking for fabric!" Tropos called up to the desk.  
"Is that so?" Stratos called back from the desk, although she couldn't be seen from the floor.  
"Yeah! Blake found a bed, so we thought we'd show him where we keep the fabric stash!" Tropos yelled back.  
"That's nice!" Stratos said in an absent tone, seeming distracted by whatever she was doing up there.

"What are you up to?" Blake asked, stopping for a moment to look up at the desk. He suddenly felt so disconnected from the friend he had made on their journey. Yes, these new friends were great, especially Mesos, but he realized that he was already missing Stratos' personality and company. They had spent every hour or every day together for so long that he felt odd now that she was back in her home routine that he had nothing to do with.

"Sewing!" Stratos answered. Tropos chuckled. “She always gets so distant when she sews. Goes to show how much she concentrates," Tropos said, seeming to feel similar to how Blake was.  
"Yes, and she makes the most durable and fabulous things because of it!" Ionos said proudly as she strutted over from the tea stand. “So you shouldn't pester her," she added with her hands on her hips.  
"I don't mind the interruption, Ionos," Stratos said as she appeared at the desk's edge, looking down at her friends.

Blake grinned and waved up at Stratos when she appeared over the edge. Seeing her filled him with a warm feeling, and he realized how big he was smiling at her. Did he... have feelings for her? Oh no, not this. They just got here. He needed time to settle and get to know everyone else. But he had spent a lot of time with her, but in a place that didn't allow for much else but survival and instinct.  
"I'm sure whatever you're making is great! I wanna see it when you're done," he said.

Stratos waved back before making her way down the makeshift stairs to join them. Tropos gave Ionos a smug look, and if stitchpunks had tongues, she'd be sticking it out at her. Ionos bitterly pouted as she crossed her arms and looked away. Upon reaching them Stratos asked with a warm smile, "So, what did you choose for a bed, Blake?"

Blake was taken by her smile and was silent a moment before blinking and looking over to the shelf he, Tropos, and Mesos had walked from. "Oh! It's a nice wooden one. Big and has some carvings of nature on it." He pointed to it but it was hard to discern among all of the other boxes.

Stratos giggled. “So you choose one of the boxes. That's great!" she said, even though she didn't really know which one it was but was happy for him anyway.  
"Well, you've come for fabric, correct? The stash is right behind you. Feel free to take whatever you like. If the fabric you like is too big, I'll cut it down to a better size," Stratos said as she walked over to the pile that sat on top of an old quilt on the floor.  
There had to be hundreds of fabrics of numerous types and sizes, ranging from scarves, handkerchiefs, clothing, and blankets.  
"From scraps to full dresses, there is a lot to pick from. So depending on how bored or finicky you are, depends on what you'll find," Stratos said as she looked back at Blake.

Oh wow, that giggle. It gave Blake little butterfly feelings.  
He looked at the pile and felt overwhelmed by how much fabric there was. He looked back to Stratos with a smile though. "Thank you. I'll look through it and tell you if I need any help," he said as he started to lift and tug at some pieces in the pile.

"Alright. If you need any suggestions, let me know," Stratos said.  
"So! How is your project going?" Tropos asked eagerly.  
Stratos turned to her. “It's going well. I'm still putting the vest together, but I've already picked some buttons that might work with the design," she answered.  
"I still say the gold button would complement the browns and yellows best," Ionos stated in a friendly manner.  
"Maybe, but it seems a little much since the rest of the design is much more sedate and antique-y," Stratos said, taking the suggestion into consideration.  
"Is there an older gold button in your collection? I seem to recall you having a few of them before," Mesos asked.  
Stratos took a moment to think about it. “Oh yeah! You're right. I had forgotten I had those. Now, where could they have gotten off to?" she said as she wandered over to one of the large drawers of the desk.  
She climbed in and caused a loud clinking and shuffling noise of what could be guessed to be a great number of buttons being disturbed by her movement.

Why would Stratos be making a vest? Blake wondered as he sifted through the fabrics. More importantly, why was she doing that as soon as she returned home? Wouldn't she want to rest and settle in before doing stuff? He guessed she just wanted to get back to whatever her normal was and forget about her time in the emptiness. It was understandable.  
As he looked he found a lush and soft blue fabric that he really liked. He decided that this would be is bedding. He tugged all he could out of it from the pile. It didn't seem to be enough for his box so he grabbed some green that was of similar softness. "I think I've found what I need," he announced.

"Oh, fantastic!" Tropos said as she turned to see what he choose.  
"Ooo! Those are pretty colors!" Ionos looked at the fabrics judgmentally, but seemed to approve after a moment.  
There was more loud clanking and shuffling from the drawer before Stratos let out a victorious, "Ah-ha! Found one!"  
She noisily made her way back to the front of the drawer and tossed the button out before hopping out of the drawer herself. The button bounced towards the group before rolling in place and laid before them. It was an aged gold button with four holes, much like most buttons, and glowed dully in the light.

Blake, with his arms full of the fabric, leaned awkwardly to look at the button. He could agree it was pretty but he wasn't much of a fan of buttons, so he wouldn't want it on his person or any accessories on him either. "I'm gonna go put this in my box," he stated as he started walking.  
Once at his chosen box he pulled it off of the shelf slowly and carefully before putting the green fabric in, then covering most of it with the blue. Against the dark hue of the wood and combined with the natural imagery, the fabric was reminiscent of a lake in the middle of a forest. He smiled at his final product, proud of what he had chosen.

"O-kay!" Tropos said as she watched him leave.  
Stratos walked over and picked up the button, and noticed him heading to the shelf and smiled. She was glad he was getting things together so soon and was hopeful that he'd find living with them to be an enjoyable experience. She handed Tropos the button. “Would you be so kind as to put this at my desk, please?" she asked kindly.  
"Of course!" Tropos happily accepted her new mission and rushed off up the desk. Stratos giggled before walking over to where Blake was.  
"It looks great!" She said as looked at the bed from behind him.

Blake turned as Stratos approached and grinned at her. "Thank you! I like the colors I picked." He gently ran his hand across the wood, saying, "It feels really... home-y, you know?"

She nodded in agreement. “Yeah. I get that feeling too," she said with a soft almost nostalgic smile. "So, did you get a good look around? I can't really imagine Tropos was all the good of a tour guide, but it's hard to say 'no' to her when she's so happy," she said with an nervous smile.

Blake chuckled. "Not really. But I think I'll wander on my own and find a good place to settle in." He chuckled a little with the safety pin on his cloak. "So what's the vest for?"

Stratos expression changed to sudden attention before softening.  
"It's just something I'm doing for fun. I guess you can call it a hobby," she said with a shrug. "Ionos enjoys giving her opinion on things like clothes, and I'm sure you've noticed how judgmental she can be about appearances. She certainly got my-" Stratos said but stopped as if she was about to say something else, "-my creator's fashion-loving side," she corrected with a nervous smile.

Blake noticed her anxious demeanor but decided not to comment on it. "I see. That's cool though. What traits did you get from your creator?" He was so curious about this. About the difference of being born and being created. No one here but him had been born and it kind of blew his mind.

Her mouth stretched out as she pondered this, seeming unsure which parts were most prominent. "I guess I got her artistic side. The others would probably tell you I got her motherly side too, but I don't really get that. Mesos seems a lot more motherly than me," she said with a raised brow. “But yeah. I'd say I got the most artistic skills and I just love art and making it. My favorite thing to do is draw!" she added enthusiastically with a genuine smile.

Blake couldn't help but grin back at her. There were those butterflies again. "Really? That's cool! What do you like to draw?" He knew he himself liked art but was no good at it. There had never been time for that in his life and when he started living in the wastelands, it came much behind survival and training with a weapon.

"Well, you'll probably find it weird, but..." she said, unsure if he'd be okay with her answer. "I like to draw stitchpunks. There's just so much potential in what we can look like. We're like blank canvases with the potential to have anything, and our creator had that fascination about it too. Another trait I got from her I guess," she confessed, seeming a bit nervous and embarrassed about it.

Blake grinned wide. "Wow, that's pretty cool actually!" He honestly thought it was awesome. "So, you kinda just draw... whatever kind of stitchpunk you want? Like, you design them, basically?"

Stratos was relieved that Blake found the subject cool.  
"Yeah, pretty much!" Stratos said enthusiastically.  
"It really is quite fun to think up all the different styles and decorations you can put on a stitchpunk. As boring as it might seem on the outside, I find it thrilling and challenging to think up new ways to make a beautiful and unique stitchpunk!" she went on passionately.

Blake chuckled at her enthusiasm. He somewhat wished she had been there to design him a beautiful and manly body when he made his changes. But she hadn't commented on his looks yet so he wasn't gonna bring anything up. Hell, no one knew anything about his past and at this point, he'd like to keep it that way. "Do you have any drawings I can see?"

"Heh! Do I ever!" she said looking thrilled to bits at the idea of sharing her art wit him. "Come with me, I have a bunch of drawings hung up in my room!" she said as she started to walk back to the smaller room.

Blake happily followed her, looking forward to seeing her drawings, and how she had her room set up. He needed ideas.

Statos lead Blake to a small stand with a phonograph on top of it. There was a door that took up most of the stand's front and tied to the door's knob was a ribbon. Stratos pulled the ribbon hard, causing the door to pop open, revealing it was magnetically held closed. There were numerous bits of paper hanging on the walls with little rolls of tape on the backs to keep them up. There were numerous designs ranging from simplistic to overly detailed.

Blake stepped inside and was shocked how covered the walls were with her art. "Wow.." He walked around slowly stopping to look at some that interested him at a glance. He mostly stopped at more masculine and plain looking designs, never favoring something he would consider gaudy. "These are really amazing, Stratos," he commented softly.

Stratos tried to not hover around him while he was looking at her designs, but it was hard to since she was curious as to which ones he'd like.  
"Thank you," she said as calmly as she could, trying to not to be too overenthusiastic like Tropos as she clasped her hands in joy.

Blake then spun around and looked at the room as a whole. "This is such a nice room too. What's the box it's in? I think I've seen something like it in the ruins."

Stratos looked at him with a raised brow.  
His choice of words seemed a bit odd to her.  
"It's a nightstand. People usually kept them by beds to store things like books to read or medicine. They also kept objects on the top like a glass of water, or spectacles and other little things," she explained with a wise smile.

" 'Nightstand'. Cool! Man, the humans had so much more stuff than us. They made so many things." Blake was certainly fascinated by the home. He had never been in one long enough to appreciated its contents. 

Stratos giggled. “Indeed they did! But we can make lots of things too with the stuff they've left behind," she said before thinking about something.  
"Blake, might I ask if there were things the others mentioned that you didn't understand?" she asked as she realized that Blake might not know as much as she and the others do.  
It'd make sense if he didn't. He was born, much like a human child.  
Unless he learned it from someone else, he wouldn't know what certain things were, and who knows how many generations had came before him.  
Information would be lost or forgotten because it didn't seem important.

Blake shrugged. "I mean, it's not really important. I see things here that I've seen broken or parts of in the emptiness. I just don't have words for them. If something comes up, I'll ask about it though."

Stratos seemed concerned by this but let it slide. “Alright. Feel free to ask any us. Someone will give you an answer," she said. "So, would you like to see more drawings? I have tons more. These ones are just some of my favorites," she asked with a lighter and happier tone.

Blake nodded with a smile. "Yeah, I will." When Stratos offered more of her art he laughed. "Of course! You're stuff is so cool!" Oh man, was he sounding weird? He didn't want to seem creepy, but he just wanted to get to know her more. Being in her room was such a treat, but he couldn't help but feel a little nervous (or was it giddy?) that they were basically alone together.

"Awesome! This way!" she said gleefully as she hopped out of the room and went towards the cubby shelf, passing a mirror that rested against the wall by the nightstand.  
The cubbyholes were filled with papers, some sticking out farther than others.  
Larger pieces were folded instead of rolled to fit the small spaces.  
She took hold of a large piece of a paper from one of the bottom cubbyholes and pulled it out like a tray with numerous drawings sitting on top of it like a pile of leaves.

"Wow, you... you have a lot of drawings..." Blake felt overwhelmed almost, and somewhat inferior. Yeah, he liked to draw, but man, he never drew that much in his life.

Stratos chuckled. “Well, I've had a lot of spare time to doodle," she said somewhat proudly as she started picking up a portion of the pile and straightened them into a nice stack.  
"Here," she said as she held out the stack to him. "I won't be offended if you get bored after a while. There's more where this came from, so you can look through them when you feel up to it later," she added to make sure he didn't feel obligated to stay if he didn't want to.

Blake nodded and said a soft 'thank you' before going through the art, rubbing his fingers lightly over the contours of some of her lines. It was amazing how creative she was, it made his now apparent infatuation with her grow. Oh geeze.

While most of the drawings were of stitchpunk designs, there were mixes of animals, creatures, and plants here and there. There were even drawings of her family doing mundane things.

Blake was perplexed by most of the animal and plant drawings. He hadn't seen a lot of these things before, so he spoke up and asked about quite a lot of them. Very few he knew, but he felt accomplished if he did. After rifling through the pile, he made sure the papers were straight before handing them back Stratos. "These are really great, Stratos. But I think I'm done looking for today," he said softly. "I'm gonna see where I can set up my bed and stuff now."

Stratos explained the animals and plants as best as she could, happy to help Blake learn about what used to live in their now barren world.  
"Alright, thank you for taking the time to look at so many of my drawings, and for asking so many questions! It's been fun," she joyfully said as she took the last stack and put it back on the paper tray.  
"I wish you luck in finding a place to call your own. There's plenty of spots to choose from," Stratos said as she slid the tray back into the cubbyhole.  
"Oh, and feel free to test areas out. It really makes a difference when you take the time to just hang out and see if there are pros or cons to the spot," Stratos suggested with a smile. "I know it took Exos a while to pick a spot for herself and she ended up choosing a place she refused to consider at first!" she mentioned with a chuckle.

Blake chuckled. Somehow, that didn't surprise him in the least. "Thank you for the advice!" With that, he made a small bow before heading back towards his box bed. He sat in it while he thought about where he could possibly put it, then realized he had only really been shown the one room. Well, time to go exploring, he thought, hopping out of the bed.

Thermos and Exos appeared to be hanging out on the workbench.  
Ionos could be seen leaving her drawer bedroom and heading back into the smaller room to join Stratos and Tropos up on the desk. Mesos, and Atmos were nowhere to be seen.

Blake wandered the basement, taking his time to sit in places that interested him to see how he might like it. Being alone for a little was nice, and he started humming under his breath as he walked, and sometimes singing a few words before going back to humming, but if he ever thought someone was around, he immediately stopped.

The resident stitchpunks left him to his devices, seeming to be only aware of him if he came into view, but went back to their own thing.  
It wasn't that they were being rude, most just wanted to leave him alone to get a good feel for their home and adjust in his own time.  
There was a resounding, "Oh shoot!" from Exos as she accidentally dropped a small rectangular piece of paper off the edge of the workbench where there was a relatively empty corner.  
The paper fluttered down and hid itself between a few chunks of wood that laid in the corner.  
"Greaaaat," Exos said sarcastically with little enthusiasm as she stared at where the paper landed.

Blake watched the paper fall down into the crevices between the wood as he walked over to that corner. "Exos?" he asked, looking up. "You want me to grab that for you?"

"If you want to, then sure," Exos said with an indifferent attitude. "Oh! Yes please, mister Blake! That'd be very nice of you," Thermos said as she too peered over the edge.

Blake scowled a little at Exos. Why did she have to be so cold towards him? What was her deal. He sighed and crawled over the wood to grab the paper for her, looking at it to see what was on it.

The little piece of paper was smaller than his hand.  
It looked to be a hand made card, given that the edges weren't cut quite perfectly and the art on it was slightly messy. Two corners of the paper had a tiny '9' written on them and in the center were nine diamonds, all colored in red. Unlike traditional playing cards, the back of the paper was blank.

Blake stared at the card. He had seen something similar in his life, but never played with a deck himself. "Is this a playing card?" he asked, holding it up to Thermos and Exos.

"Yeah. Atmos made them one day during one of our 'creative family nights,'" Exos said, not too pleased in saying the last bit. Thermos came down to retrieve the card from Blake, she was very quick despite the fact that she was just walking.

Blake was surprised by Thermos' swiftness but was quick to hand her the card. "What game are you playing?"

"Thank you so much," Thermos said as she graciously took the card. "We're playing 'war.' Have you ever played that, mister Blake?"

Blake had to think. "I've uh... I've heard of it..." He tried to remember the things people would shout as they sat in the dirt, throwing down cards and money. Maybe 'war' was one of those words.

"It's quite fun if you want to have a nice long game with a friend," Thermos said with a sweet smile. “Perhaps we can play sometime? I believe tomorrow is family game night. It'll be so much fun now that we have another player in the group!"

"Uh, yeah. Yeah sure! You'll just have to teach me okay?" Blake smiled sheepishly, feeling awkward that he didn't know how to play.

"I'd be happy to, mister Blake!" Thermos said cheerily.  
"Oh! By the way, have you found a place to make your room. I recall seeing you making a bed earlier today," she inquired in a innocent manner.

"Thank you!" Blake responded in a similarly cheery tone. Thermos' question had him think and turn on his heels to look back into the corner of the room. "I haven't found a place yet but I do like this... Could we move the wood? If I could use them as pillars... It would be perfect!"

Thermos looked over at the space as she listened to him.  
"Oh yes! If you give me a moment, I'll gather the others and we'll help you set up right away!" she said with a big smile before dashing away like a bolt of lightning.  
"Well, I guess our game is over then..." Exos said as she watched Thermos run off.  
She came down slowly from the workbench and joined Blake. “So, how're you liking things here so far? Pretty crazy, huh?" she asked with her arms crossed in a casual manner and leaned against the leg of the workbench.

Blake chucked at Thermos's enthusiasm. She seemed much like Tropos. Turning to Exos as she spoke, he answered, "Yeah, it's a little crazy. But you have a really nice place here. I like it a lot."

Exos let out a short chuckle. "That's good. It can get boring around here after a while, but it's nothing like being out in the wastelands, and I think I prefer it that way," she said letting a soft smile show.

Blake smiled when he saw Exos smile. It was a rare happening after all. "Yeah me too. But as long as I'm safe here and I've got a bed to myself, I'm happy." He had spent much too long in the wasteland by himself, and much too long in a colony that wouldn't accept him.

"Well, that's good to hear," Stratos said with a smile as she, Tropos, and Ionos joined them. "Hiya', Blake!" Tropos greeted happily. "This is a nice spot you choose!"

Blake smiled at the group as they approach, but especially at Stratos. "Thank you," he responded to Tropos. "I want to drape some fabric around and make it like a tent, you know? It'd be like my colony." As few good memories he had of that place, he always loved the tents.

"Oh, that'd be lovely!" Stratos said as she took a closer look at the space. "What color do you think you'd would be comfortable with? Blue perhaps? It's very good for a relaxing atmosphere, purple can do that too though. A nice green would bring energy without being too obscene depending on the color," she rambled on as she thought of the options. “Of course you can choose colors like orange and yellow too, but it probably keep you up more than help you sleep. I'd suggest avoiding red, since it's such an aggressive color. Fine in small amounts, but a full ceiling of it would be too much to handle all the time.  
Pink is also a calming color, but I doubt you'd care for that color in your room," she added with a small giggle.

Blake listened intently as he nodded every so often as Stratos spoke. _Wow_, he thought, _she's so smart and cute when she giggles._ There was that butterfly feeling again. Oh gosh, was he staring? He quickly turned around to look at the corner again, rubbing his head a little. "You'd be surprised... But let's set up the wood before I go get colors, yeah?"

"Oh, of course. One step at time," Stratos said as she realized that she had gotten ahead of herself again. At that moment, Thermos arrived with Mesos and Atmos.  
"Right, we're all here now. So what do you need us to do?" Atmos asked Blake, ready to get to work.

"Okay," Blake started. “I want to take the wood and stand it up. One in the corner, one between the wall and the desk here, one at the edge of the desk here, and one against the wall across from the last one." He pointed to each place as he described it.

"Got it. Let's get to it then," Atmos said as she rotated one of her shoulders in preparation to lift the wood.  
"Aye, aye captain!" Tropos said as she playfully saluted before approaching one of the wood pieces, Stratos following behind her with an amused smile on her face.  
Exos and Thermos went to a piece and prepared to pick it up.  
"I'll help you with that piece over there," Mesos said to Blake, pointing to the last piece of wood left unmanned.  
"Ionos! Over here. You're not here to stand around to be pretty," Atmos beckoned Ionos with a stern tone.  
Ionos groaned but made her way to help Atmos.  
The teams managed to pick their respective wood pieces, rearranging them out of the way and then placing them at their respective spots.  
Finally tilting them and carefully sliding them into place.

Blake nodded at Mesos and was quick to stand the wood up with her and put it into place. After trotting away to take a look from afar, he smiled. "They look great! Thank you, everyone. Now I just have to find some fabric."

"And you know where to find that. I'll help you dig through the pile," Stratos offered.  
"I'll help too!" Tropos chimed.  
"We'll all help," Atmos said with a smile as she ruffled Tropos' head causing her to laugh. The others agreed to the task.

Blake felt overwhelmed with their combined willingness to help him. "You guys don't have to, I mean, I'm sure you have other things to do..."  
He was not used to such kindness and willingness to help. Everything had mostly been 'do it yourself' in the colony.

"Not really. I told you earlier that this place gets boring after a while," Exos said with a shrug.  
"Besides, your comfort is of the utmost importance. We can't leave a guest without a place to rest and relax while staying under our roof," Mesos said.  
"Things are quiet today, in a good way. Besides, we have a guard dog now. Skit will sound alarm if something enters the yard," Atmos mentioned.

Blake laughed. "So you named it 'Skit', huh?" He shook his head, smiling. "Alright fine, but I still don't know what colors for sure that I want," he commented as he started walking toward the fabric pile.

"Oh yes! It was my idea to name it 'Skitter,' because off the way it moved," Thermos chimed.  
"'Skit' sounds cooler though, so that's its nickname," Exos mentioned.  
The others joined him as he made his way to the fabric pile.  
"That's alright, we'll offer suggestions and you can tell us if you like it or not. We'll narrow down the choices from there," Stratos responded.  
Each of the skypunks took a different section of the pile and started sorting out the smaller scraps, offering any large pieces they found.

Blake was getting flustered by all of the choices, and felt like he was being too picky when he refused something. He was looking for a thinner fabric, so the light could come through, but couldn't settle on a single color. After asking to be left alone for a few minutes, he came back to the group with a definite color choice. Or rather, choices. He wanted pale yellow, pale purple, and pale blue. If they could somehow get all of those colors together to drape on the logs, he'd be satisfied.

The others respected his choice to take time to himself to mull over the options.  
They continued digging through anyway in case there was something more fitting to what he could be looking for.  
When he came back with his request, they looked through the pile again.  
They produced a light dress that was pale yellow with small white flowers, a plain sky blue fabric that may of been a kitchen curtain, and a pale purple scarf.  
"With a few snips and some thread, we can sew these together into one solid piece. If these will be okay with you," Stratos said as they offered the choices they found. "If you're not satisfied with these, we'll keep looking," she added with a reassuring smile.

Blake smiled. "No, no, that's perfect, I love it. Sew it together and we can drape it on! I'll put my bed in there while you do that." With that, he trotted off to his box bed.

"Excellent!" Stratos cheered.  
With that, she, Mesos, Ionos, and Thermos took the fabrics and got to work sewing them together. Meanwhile Exos, Tropos and Atmos were left to their own devices until further notice. "Need any help moving your bed?" Tropos asked as she hurried over to him.

Blake looked at Tropos as she approached. "Yeah, sure. You get the other side," he instructed, crouching and wiggling his fingers underneath the one end of the box.

"Okay," Tropos said as she went to the other side and prepared to lift her end.

Blake lifted his end and once Tropos did the same, he started walking toward his area. Once they were in there, he had them set it down against the wall.

Tropos might of held her end up a little too high, but took the time to let Blake lead at his own pace and help him set the bed in the preferred placement.  
"This place is going to be so cool when the roof is done! That and when you get some more stuff to fill in the space," she said as she looked around.

Blake sat in the cushy folds of his bed once it was set down. "Yeah, it's gonna be really nice," he said with a smile.

Tropos smiled with him. She was glad Blake was getting settled in. Things had been so dull and routine. He was the most exciting thing to happen in so long.

Blake lay down, sighing. After he had his drapery, he'd certainly be taking a nap. The day, even though not over, felt long and exhausting to him.

"I'm going to go check on the other's progress," Tropos said before leaving him alone. It would be a couple hours before the roof was completed.

"Thanks," Blake responded, closing his optics. It wasn't even ten minutes before he had fallen asleep.

After the sewing job was done, the four stitchpunks folded their work, making it easier to carry. When they found Blake sleeping, they laid the fabric by one of the entrance pillars and another little note detailing that when he was awake to go ask for help with hanging the roof should he need it.

Blake woke with a start. Another nightmare. He looked around blearily, and focused on the fabric. After reading the note, He stretched out and looked around for who could help him.

Atmos, Mesos, and Tropos appeared to be about while Thermos and Exos could be seen at the window entrance above the furnace. Stratos and Ionos were in the other room, discussing colors for a design.

Blake looked up and saw Thermos and Exos first, and called to them. "Hey! Could you two help me drape the fabric over the wood?"

The two looked down at him.  
"Sorry, mister Blake! It's our turn to be on watch right now," Thermos shouted back as politely as she could. Exos gave him a shrug. "Ask someone else!"

"Okay!" Blake sighed and wandered into the other room to see who was available. When he spotted Stratos, a smile graced his face. "Hey, Stratos," he called, "Could you help me drape the fabric around my area?"

Stratos looked over when he called and said, "Sure thing!" before handing Ionos the design plan and joined him. Atmos came over after hearing Blake's calls. "I couldn't help but overhear you're needing help with the drape," she said causally.

Blake looked up at Atomos and nodded. "Yeah, thank you. So where are... um, Mesos and... Tropos?" He struggled to remember their names but it only being day one, he was doing really well.

Tropos popped up behind Atmos. “Peek-a-boo~! I'm right here!" she said with a chuckle.  
"Mesos is over at her room," Atmos said as she spotted her. “Hey, Mesos! Do ya' want to help Blake put up his drape ceiling?" she called out.  
Mesos quickly turned upon hearing Atmos and said, "Of course! I'll be there in a moment!" she shouted back, although it was much nicer than Atmos' shouting.  
Stratos joined them, rubbing one audial receiver. "I guess we'll congregate at Blake's place, then," she said with a lopsided smile.

Blake nodded, then looked to Stratos, giving her an equally lopsided, but goofy smile. "Let's go then!" He turned and started heading to his area.

Stratos, Tropos, and Atmos walked with him, shortly joined by Mesos afterwards. "So, how should we do this?" Atmos asked.  
"We could take the drape to the workbench, unfold it, and slide it over the edge, while someone pulls the pillars on this side just enough for the fabric to slip between and be pinched into place," Stratos suggested.

"But what about the other side?" Blake asked, looking at the other two pillars. "Maybe we could... Hm..."

"If you don't mind it, we could close the lid to your bed and I can use it as a stand," Atmos suggested.

"Oh, yeah we could do that!" Blake gathered up the fabric and heading to the makeshift stairs up to the top of the workbench.

"I'll stay here and help Atmos and Tropos with the pillars," Stratos said to Mesos. "Alright, I'll go help him then," Mesos said with a nod before quickly following after him. Atmos stood at the inner pillar with Stratos and Tropos where they worked together at the outer pillar.

Blake, with the help of Mesos, unfolded the fabric and carefully let it drape down so it could get between the pillar and workbench.

Once the fabric was in position, the trio below let the pillars go, letting them stand upright again and pinched the fabric into place. "Okay! You can toss the other end down!" Atmos said, giving them a thumbs up.

Blake nodded and let the rest of the fabric fall down. He then quickly made his way down, hoping to help.

Mesos lightly tossed her end of the fabric before following Blake. Stratos and Tropos shoved Blake's bed over to one of the pillars. Atmos took the respective corner of the drape to the pillar and stepped up onto the box. Stratos and Tropos helped by tilting the pillar so Atmos could tuck the fabric behind it. Once the fabric was pinched behind the pillar, they moved to the next and repeated the process. When the work was done, Stratos and Tropos put the bed back to it's proper location, with the lid open again.

Blake grinned once everything was put together, then suddenly remembered something. "Does someone have a knife?"

The others were also admiring their handiwork until he mentioned his knife. "Oh, yes! You left it on the cube by my bed," Mesos informed calmly.

"Thanks!" Blake ran over to the block and grabbed his knife. After he ran back, he cut a huge tear in the front, so that one could enter and exit. "There! It's perfect!"

Stratos let out a short chuckle. “It looks great!"  
"Yeah! It looks like fun to just hang out in!" Tropos agreed.  
"Good work. Now, since I'm done here, I'm gonna' go hit the hay," Atmos said with a wave before walking towards the furnace.  
"Oh, yes. It's gotten dark, hasn't it?" Mesos said as she looked to the small windows high above.  
There were so many little lights that shown so brightly in order to light up the area, but it was still quite a noticeable difference when one realizes the time.  
"We'll have to get you a light for your room," Stratos said as she too looked about.  
There were some lights on stings nearby since Thermos and Exos lived there too, and there was some trailing in the back of the book shelf, but all of these would only light the outside.  
Not really suitable for those who'll eventually want to sleep.  
"I'll be back with something," Stratos said as she rushed up the workbench and hopped to one of the shelves beside it.

Blake smiled at Stratos as she left, but soon caught himself staring and immediately rushed into his room to put his knife down somewhere. He returned and waited for Stratos to return.

Stratos returned with a simple box with a bulb on it.  
The box was an armful, and had been painted with a night sky theme.  
"Here, just press the button on the top to turn the light on or off. It'll run out of power if you leave it on for a day, but it'll last a few days with limited use," she said as she offered the device. "When it dies, take it out to somewhere with strong light for a few hours. Be sure that the panel on this side is exposed to the light, otherwise it won't work. It'll shine brightly again after it is recharged though," she informed, pointing at the side of the box that was left unpainted.  
The unpainted side looked to have a dark glass-like screen that reflected like a darkened mirror.

Blake nodded, inspecting the device as she spoke. "Thank you Stratos," he said softly. "This is pretty cool."

"Isn't it just!?" Tropos said with an impressed tone. “We've got a few extras laying around as spares."  
"Yes, so if you really need a light and this one is out, you can find them over on the shelf by the workbench. It's fairly easy to get to, just be careful," Stratos said.

"Thank you... Thank you so much." Blake grinned at Stratos before quickly putting the light down. "You've been such great company today." He could feel the fluttery feeling in his chest as he looked to her. Wow, she was cute in this lighting too.

Stratos was pleasantly surprised to hear that he thought of her as great company and smiled as she said, "Oh, it's no problem!"  
She wish she could say more, but the words seemed lost at that moment.  
Blake's been so nice and agreeable. She was even happier for inviting him to stay with them.  
Mesos and Tropos were still lingering around, but they were a couple feet away.  
Mesos looked over, seeing Blake and Stratos smiling at each other, but the way Blake was behaving struck her as being more than just grateful for the hospitality.  
She knew Stratos was oblivious to the signals, and should inform the two of the situation, but she supposed that can wait until later.  
The day was getting late.

Blake suddenly felt awkward just standing there. "I'll uh, see you tomorrow then. You get some good rest, okay?"

"Of course. You sleep well too, Blake," she said with a soft smile. She then left with a small wave to him before heading to the smaller room. Mesos and Tropos disbanded to their own rooms.

Blake retired to his room and curled up on his new bed, content with his living arrangements. Sleep found him fast, but so did the nightmares. He woke a few times in the night, but it was a big improvement from a few days earlier.


	5. Chapter 5

Sometime during the night after many of the resident stitchpunks had gone to bed, Thermos retired to her own, leaving Exos and Stratos left awake at such late hours.  
Exos was on night shift for guard duty, while Stratos was busy being distracted with drawing.  
It wouldn't be until the near morning light until either of them finally went to bed and sleep.  


Blake woke later in the day, after many hours wasted on waking up, calming down, and falling back to sleep after his nightmares, but at least he was getting rest now. He wandered out of his room and glanced around to see if anyone was out and about. He wanted to explore today. Alone, but he also wanted someone to know where he was just in case something happened.  


Atmos was outside with Mesos.  
Thermos and Tropos were hauling boxes to the large quilt that laid on the ground. The boxes were long and flat with labels of games printed on the sides. Exos wasn't in sight, and neither were Ionos or Stratos.  


Blake trotted over to Thermos and Tropos. "Hey guys! What are those?" he asked, pointing to the boxes.  


"Oh, hello mister Blake!" Thermos greeted.  
"Heya' Blake! These are board games we're going to play for tonight's family gathering," Tropos explained cheerfully as she and Thermos placed a box down.  
"Every week or so we all get together and do something together. It's something Stratos and Mesos thought up," Thermos added with a sweet smile.  


Blake nodded, even though he only vaguely understood what a board game was. "That sounds like fun! But, hey, I'm gonna go upstairs and wander a bit, okay? I'll make lots of noise if anything happens, or I need someone." He said the last part with a chuckle, but he knew and understood the dangers possible.  


"Oh! Well, if you want to check the upstairs, you'll have to go through the back door outside. The one at the stairs is kept locked in order to prevent monsters from getting down here," Thermos explained.  
"Since you'll be heading her way; tell Atmos that you'll be exploring up there too. She'll come to your rescue like a shot if you run into trouble," Tropos said.  


Blake nodded, smiling. "I will, thank you!" With that, he walked toward the fishnet that hung around the furnace. After a little bit of mental preparation, he climbed up the net and up to the window, crawling through and stumbling into the sprawling grass outside.  


The day was fairly clear, making the green plants sort of glow in the light. Mesos seemed to be sitting on a nearby rock, just enjoying the nature. Atmos walked up to Blake. "Morning, Blake. Come out for some fresh air?" she greeted with a smile as she planted her weapon into the ground and looked down at him.  


Blake looked up at Atmos, still a little intimated by her height. "Well, I actually wanted to explore the upstairs. Tropos and uh, Thermos said I could get to it by a back door up here. Oh, and to tell you, just in case I run into trouble."  


"Ah, I see. Well you'll find the door if you go straight to your right. There's a platform to the door, so you can't miss it," Atmos informed, pointing towards the door's direction. "The door doesn't stay closed, so don't worry about getting in and out through it. Just be careful of any beast that might be lurking in there. They like to hide in houses to avoid storms and rest."  
"Much like we do," Mesos piped up from where she sat.  


Blake wasn't dumb. He understood the dangers that may lie within the house, but he nodded anyway. "Thank you." As he started to walk away, he waved. "I'll hoot and holler if I need help."  


"Got it," Atmos said as she continued her watch.  
There were sounds of Skit wandering the greenery and could be seen from time to time. What once made a horrible roar, was now making strange cooing noises as the leaves and blades of grass brush against its form.  


Blake chuckled at Skit, glad that the beast was enjoying itself. He made his way into the house through the backdoor and slowly meandered around. When he thought he was far enough from anyone, he started to sing. It was an old song in Latin, but the part he chose to sing seemed too high for him an it annoyed him greatly.  


The house was like most two story homes.  
There were signs that a family of three humans lived there, a father, a mother, and a daughter judging by the bedrooms upstairs. There were also signs that the resident stitchpunks had been through the house as well. There were a number of fabric objects missing pieces, as if cut out with scissors. Other things were dolls having no clothes, buttons missing off of things, beads left in random locations, or boxes knocked to the side, spilling what treasures were left within.  


Blake continued to wander, looking through and over everything, not finding any of interest. He continued to sing, trying to figure out a way to sing the part his wanted, but jumping between the different parts of soprano, alto instead of the men's usual tenor and bass.  


After some time, Stratos awoke and asked for where Blake was.  
When she learned he was exploring the upstairs from Mesos, Stratos asked her to go find him and have him visit her when he was more available.  
Mesos agreed to the task and sauntered into the house.  
She could faintly hear Blake's singing and followed the song as she searched for him.  


Blake didn't hear or notice Mesos approaching. He was belting out a particularly loud and intense part of the song with his shutters closed. He had just decided to sing in his range, making his notes crisp, clear, and vibrant. He sang with such a passion that even though he had no idea what the Latin translated to, it sounded as if he did.  


Mesos spotted Blake, and quietly approached closer until she was a few feet away. She didn't know what he was singing, but it didn't matter to her as she was enraptured by his voice. She felt her soul swell as she listened and wanted to join him, but she didn't know the words. He looked so passionate and alive as he sung that it caused something to flutter inside of her.  


Blake finished off the song, growing quiet as he held the final note. It was a few moments before he opened his shutters and saw Mesos. His gears felt as if they ground to a halt as he stared at her. Had she been listening? How much had she heard? He felt so embarrassed. "M-Mesos! W-what are you doing up here?"  


She stared back at him before remembering what she came to do. "O-oh! Stratos. She wanted to see you about a new cloak," she said as she fiddled with her hands nervously.  
She felt so uneasy all of a sudden, but it didn't feel like it was in a bad way, yet it was hardly like her to feel this way.  
She pressed the feeling down enough to say, "That was a beautiful song," with a shy smile.  


Blake froze for a moment. "I-I... Thank you..." If he had been human, he would beat red with an intense blush. After standing awkwardly for a few moments, he said, "I'll uh, go see Stratos then," before rushing past Mesos to go back outside. Once at the door, he sighed, trying to calm his nerves that were shot with embarrassment.  


Mesos turned as he passed her but stayed where she stood.  
Everything suddenly became confusing to her.  
What were these new feelings that still resonated inside her?  
She had felt similar things before, but never had they hit her so hard and they weren't fading away as quickly as they should. Did she perhaps like Blake? Surely not, they only truly met yesterday. She needed to take the time to get to know Blake more to see if these feelings were true or just temporary. Taking a deep breath, she decided to let these thoughts simmer in the back of her mind as she started walking back to the yard. 'Only time would tell,' she thought as she sauntered towards the door.  


Blake couldn't seem to shake his embarrassment as he stepped through the window and climbed down the net. He quickly made his way to Stratos' room, hoping that being with her would maybe make him feel better, or forget his encounter with Mesos.  


Stratos was hopping out of her room with a notepad, a bit of pencil lead, and a chunk of eraser. Ionos was on the bottom tier of the tea shelf, looking as if she was planning something for the space while Tropos was talking about a story as she sat at the shelf's edge.  


Blake waved to Stratos. "Hey, Mesos said you wanted to see me?" he asked.  


Stratos looked to him and smiled. "Ah! Yes I did! I wanted to talk to you about that new cloak I promised," she said as she walked him over to a jewelry box that sat between the tea shelf and the fabric pile.  
The drawer to the jewelry box was placed upside down, creating a stair to the doors probably.  
Stratos sat on the drawer and patted the spot next to her before quickly scribbling a blank model.  


Blake sat next to Stratos, grinning. He was not only excited to be getting a new cloak, but also be close to her. "Oh! Can it have a pocket on the inside? For my knife."  


"Of course! I'll have to borrow it for a bit when I get to that part of making it, if that's alright with you," she said gleefully as she took a note of the request.  
"Anything else you want added?" she asked as she drew the basic shape of a cloak. "How long would you like it to be?"  


"Oh, about to uh... here." Blake draw a line with his finger across the sketch's knuckles. "Wait no... Maybe just past my fingertips. Then I can easily get my hands out of I need to but they're still hidden most of the time."  


"Ah!" she said as she watched and listened to him before drawing down what he wanted. "Like this?" she asked as she tilted the picture so he could see it better.  
The hemline was a little bit past the model's hands.  


"Yeah, yeah, I think I'll like that! I can't remember how my other one was, but I'm pretty sure it was like that." He could feel that flutter in his chest. "You're drawing is really good."  


"You're other one went past your knees a little," Stratos answered with a giggle.  
She found it funny how he forgot a detail like that, especially on something he wore himself, but didn't say anything since his priorities were no doubt vastly different from hers.  
"Thank you, by the way," she said in response to his complement.  
"Alright, how would you like the cloak to fasten? Button, pin, zipper, or string?" she asked, making tiny doodles of the options as she spoke.  


Past his knees? Blake was shocked Stratos even remembered a detail like that. "Oh uh... I don't like buttons... and pins are big too..." Oh man he could feel himself getting overwhelmed. He wanted to change the length now but it seemed like they were past that part. He could tell her after choosing this, he told himself. "What would it look like with a string?"  


Stratos drew a concept of the cloak with string. "There would be two strings. One would be knotted down on each side of the cloak so they stayed in place. If the string was wrapped around the neck, then the fabric would just slip through and pull the hood until the whole thing fell off, and that wouldn't do," she said as she finished the doodle.  


Blake unconsciously made a face. That sounded and looked a little complicated. Not that he wasn't smart and couldn't figure it out and get used to it, but he just wanted what he had, but better. The safety pin in the old one had been a pain. "What about the zipper?"  


"Let's see," Stratos said as she doodle on another space on the paper, "the zipper would probably be a bit stiff and heavy," she said as she began sounding hesitant with the option. "It'd probably get in the way with lifting your arms comfortably."  
"Hm...." Stratos thought a bit more. "Well, it could always just be sewn together. You could just slip it on and off over your head, and that would leave it to be open in the front for easy arm movement," she said as she considered the option and doodled it down. "The seams wouldn't be very noticeable either, considering how I sew," she added in a slightly mumbled manner as she concentrated.  


"Okay, that can work!" Blake shifted a little as he sat, trying to remind himself that he had to tell her about the length. "Hey, uh, could you make it long like I used to have it? I liked it like that."  


Stratos smiled. "Sure thing! Let me just-" she said as she erased the hemline and drew a new one down to where his old cloak would've been. "There! Good?" she asked excitedly as she showed the picture again to him.  


Blake nodded, smiling. "Yes, thank you!" Stratos' excitement lifted his spirits and made his previous anxiety about the cloak go away. Or maybe it was because they had finalized a design. Whatever it was, it made him grin and his gears work fast as he looked to Stratos and her wonderful face.  


Ionos glanced over from the tea shelf at Stratos and Blake, and noticed how he looked at her.  
Ionos had caught him staring at her in the same way yesterday, but it was beginning to dawn on Ionos that he had feelings towards Stratos, feelings that would not sit well with her.  
"Great! Now for the material," Stratos said as she put the drawing and her tools down on the drawer.  
She got up and walked to the fabric pile. "We'll need a piece of fabric that is durable, yet flimsy enough for wearing, and of course in a color that you like," she said as she started picking through the pile.  


"Well, I did like the black," Blake commented, following Stratos. "But maybe we could use something that blends in more.." He started sifting through the fabric pile. "Browns and uh, greens would be good right? Oh but green would look weird against my fabric," he rambled, looking down at himself.  


Stratos giggled at the last bit. "Green can be a tricky color to play with, but I think we do have something in here that is green and brown," she said as she started to dig around before quickly finding the pattern. "Ah-hah! There it is!"  
She brought the fabric over to him.  
It was a swirly, paisley-like pattern in mostly a medium green and chocolate brown with hints of lighter greens and browns.  


Blake scrutinized the pattern. "I-I dunno... Maybe I should just stick with black.. Or maybe grey... That material doesn't feel very strong either," he mumbled quickly. He was getting overwhelmed again, and he felt like he was acting stupid in front of Stratos, which made him feel even worse. "I'm sorry..."  


Stratos simply listened and smiled. "Yeah, I didn't think you'd care for this choice. I thought I'd show you it anyway just for fun," she said as she tossed the fabric aside.  
"Back to seriousness though. Black and/or grey would be good, since they're less required to be cleaned and make it easier to hide in shadowy places," she remarked before trudging up the pile to look for fabrics.  


Blake sighed in relief. Stratos' clear head was something he needed in times like these, and it only filled him up with even more of that gushy feeling for her. "Thanks."  


"Ah! Here's some! I knew I saw this yesterday," she said as she began to reel in a large piece of black fabric. Judging by the material, it was probably once a part of a well-loved coat or jacket.  


Blake smiled and came over to gently touch the fabric. "Yeah, I like this... Thank you..."  


Stratos seemed perplexed by how many times he thanks her, but smiled anyway and said, "No problem. I'm glad you like it." She pulled the fabric down from the pile and draped it on the drawer of the jewelry box. "Now we have to get the measurements. Wait here while I get the supplies," Stratos said before heading up the desk.  


Blake nodded and waited obediently for Stratos to return. He sat down on the drawer of the jewelry box, watching as she walked away with a dreamy look on his face.  


Ionos gracefully slid down from the tea shelf and walked up to Blake. "Good afternoon, Blake," she greeted in a way that she had something to say to him, but was pretending to be friendly about it.  


Blake looked up at Ionos as she approached. He could tell she had some sort of unpleasant to say to him but he stayed cheery. "Hi Ionos. What's up?"  


"Oh, I was just wondering if you'd come talk with me after your tailoring session with Stratos," Ionos said with a malicious look in her optics coupled with a sweet smile as she pressed her fingertips together.  
"You see, it's about something very important and I'd hate for you to go on not knowing about it, but I didn't want to ruin your fun at this moment so~" she said, moving her hands around in a smooth and fluid way. "-could you meet me up in the garden? There's a large structure amongst the plants just straight from the entrance window, you can't miss it," she asked.  


Blake eyed Ionos carefully, seeing something more sinister behind her simple invitation. "Sure," he said steadily, drawing out the syllable a little. "I'll see you then."  


"Excellent! Till we meet again," Ionos said, pleased by his answer. With that, she left the room and headed to the garden.  
"Well, that was something," Tropos said as she came over from the tea shelf.  


Blake looked to Tropos, his expression turning sour. "She has something up her sleeve. I don't like it." He shifted uncomfortably, trying to think of what Ionos could possibly want to talk to him about.  


"Well, she is a performer. I'm pretty sure she always has something up her sleeve," Tropos chuckled a little before clearing her throat. "Would you feel better if I followed you when you go meet up with her? You know, all sneakily like a snakey-sneaky thing?" she asked in a mix of silliness and seriousness. "That way you don't end up completely alone with her?"  


"No, you don't have to do that," Blake replied, shaking his head. "I can deal with her on my own. I've been faced with more terrifying people in my life..." He stared off, losing himself in thoughts and memories that, all in all, were mostly unpleasant.  


Tropos seemed concerned, but smiled. "Alright. If that is what you wish." Stratos was returning with a measuring tape, a tiny pair of scissors, and some pins. "Don't worry too much about it. Ionos is all bark and no bite, so you won't be in any real danger," Tropos said with a shrug.  
"Hm?" Stratos asked as she joined them, she had heard them talking, but didn't hear the words clearly.  
"Oh, we were talking about Ionos and how sharp tongued she is," Tropos said.  
"Oh! Yeah... She's definitely a mean one of the bunch, but she'll grow out of it eventually," Stratos said, looking rather anxious about Ionos' behavior as she dumped the supplies next to Blake.  


Blake raised a stitched brow to Stratos' statement. " 'Grow out of it'? You've all been alive since before the humans died out and she hasn't 'grown out of it' yet!" His words were laced with verbal fire as his general dislike for Ionos shone through. He crossed his arms with a small huff.  


Stratos was startled by the sudden outburst.  
"W-well uh... That wouldn't be entirely true. She's a lot younger than I am. By many years actually, and I don't mean personality-wise," she said seeming nervous to mention the fact.  


Blake looked up at Stratos, and made sure she was looking at him before very seriously saying, "I'm probably decades younger than you." He held her gaze a moment longer before looking away and sighing. He stood and took off his current cloak, ready to get his measurements over with.  


Stratos refused to make solid eye contact. "That may be so, but so is Ionos," she said in an upset tone.  
Tropos took the measuring tape and held it at the back of Blake's head while Stratos took note of the length.  
Stratos then took the fabric and draped it on his head. "Hold the fabric to where you want the hood to close," she said in a more annoyed manner.  
She didn't want to speak more than she had to, trying to avoid sparking an argument with him.  


Blake was suddenly full of questions. How was Ionos so young in comparison? When was Stratos even made? But the tone of Stratos' voice kept his mouth shut. He did as he was told, not wanting to get mouthy when he shouldn't. If it warranted, he's get mouthy with Ionos right after this.  


Stratos carefully pinned the cloak, she may have been upset by his tone, but she still didn't want to accidentally prick him.  
She then took the scissors and cut off the excess fabric, leaving plenty to work and hem with.  
"Okay. That'll do. I'll let you know when I need more," she said as she took the hood and supplies, piling them all on the notepad and carried it all by herself back to the desk.  
Tropos sighed. "Sorry about that. She has a habit of copying other people's moods, especially when they're angry."  


"Yeah, well, guess it's my fault then," Blake mumbled, putting his other cloak back on. His could feel his emotions spiraling down a negative path but he didn't care. He was going to deal with Ionos and take a nap. He quickly made his way up to the window and into the grass, finding the structure she had spoken about earlier.  


The structure was a long since used gas bomb from the war.  
What used to kill all life in its vicinity was now being taken over by vine-like plants with flowers blooming. The panels were the only salvation from the forest of tall grasses leaving clear walking spots. Ionos stood close to the towering device. "Beautiful, isn't it? This is great place to enjoy the clear azure skies amongst the sea of peridot plants," she said as she noticed Blake.  


Blake rolled his shutters. "What do you want, Ionos?" he asked, trying to soften his tone. He didn't want to start anything with her when they had just started talking.  


Ionos looked at him, slowly walking towards him as she spoke. "I've noticed the way you look at Stratos with your eyes all a flutter like the butterflies in your belly. You like her, and knowing the way your type reproduces, you no doubt have steamy ideas of passion floating in your head," she said as if on a stage. "You best put such thoughts to rest in a cemetery, because your love for her will only be met with a tombstone. She'll never feel the same way as you do."  


Blake stared at her, his insides feeling as if they were rusting over. "W-what are you talking about?" Even he didn't know if she was referring to his attraction to Stratos or how she won't feel the same about him. "If she-if she doesn't like me, why wouldn't she tell me herself?"  


"Oooh~! Sweet, naive Blake," Ionos said as clasped her hands and began to circle around Blake. "Our dear Stratos is oblivious as the clouds above us," she said whimsically as she stretched her arms out. "Indifferent to the strife of the cruel world and passionate beings beneath her. She may be kind and sweet to all that come her way, but she simply cannot feel the connection of lovers nor desires to."  
"She's an ace of spades among the ranks of hearts," she said as she stopped in front of him, looking into his optics. "You could've fallen for any other girl, but you fell for her."  
The look in her face shown that she knew if he tried to pursue Stratos, he'd only get his heart broken, like she had already gone through the process herself.  


Blake stared at Ionos, his mind racing with his emotions. He thought she was bluffing, but the look in her optics told him the story of walking down the path he was about to. So Stratos was one of those stitchpunks. There had been a few in his colony but they kept themselves very hidden.  
He couldn't think of anything to say, so he just turned, and started walking away. And then jogging. And then running. He sprinted into the house, trying to find the front door, trying to find a way out. But his head was too scrambled. He holed himself in a high cabinet, angrily pushing and throwing things out of his way.  


Ionos watched him leave, somewhat surprised that he didn't fight back. Mesos, who was walking with Atmos, saw him rush by into the house. Both of them were confused by his action until Ionos walked out of the greenery. "What did you do?" Atmos asked in deep accusatory tone.  
"I just informed Blake something he needed to know about Stratos. That's all," Ionos said as she kept heading to the basement entrance. Mesos knew what she meant and ran into the house after Blake.  
She heard him crashing around the cabinet and stayed back, watching patiently for him to let out his frustration.  


Blake was furious at himself. Stupid! Idiot! How could he have been so blind?! He punched the wall inside of the cabinet a few times, forcing himself to feel the pain as the joints of his fingers bent in ways they shouldn't. When he had hurt his hand enough, he sat and started to pick at his seams in an obsessive way, again, forcing himself to feel the pain. This was his punishment.  


"Blake?" Mesos called, as she climbed up the cabinet to him.  
She couldn't stand by seeing him hurting himself more than she already had. "Blake, I know what Ionos told you, and I'm sorry. It's my fault for not coming to you sooner, but you mustn't do this to yourself. Not for over something you didn't know about. How could you know?" Mesos said in a calm yet concerned tone.  


Blake stopped dead when Mesos called his name, staring at her. He had been intruded upon in his private moments yet again by her. His obsessive picking stopped, but he started to run and scratch his arm instead. "I-I-I-" he stammered, voice cracking with emotion. "I should have. I've known stitchpunks like her before. I should have realized!"  


Mesos approached him. "You've only know her for a few days. That's not nearly enough time to fully understand someone or what their preferences are," she said as she knelt down in front of him, she expression soft and caring.  
"Blake, you've done nothing wrong. You don't need to do this to yourself," she said as she reached a hand to one of his. "We all make mistakes. We all miss things, but it's nothing to dwell on," she said soothingly. "I know it hurts to accept it, but some things are not meant to be. Now you know the truth and can move from there."  


Blake couldn't bring himself to look at Mesos. Her touch made him stop scratching his fabric and glance at her face a moment. "I just... I've been s-so alone... for so long... I... I thought... Sh-she was there for me and I thought I finally... f-finally didn't have to be alone anymore..."  


Mesos smiled softly "And you'll never be alone again. She may not be there for you in the way that you wanted, but I can assure you that she'll always do the best she can for you. We all will," she said encouragingly before pulling him into a hug. "You're part of our family now, and we always take care of each other. No matter the flaws they have," she said as she held him tightly.  


Blake was shaking when Mesos hugged him. Her words were so comforting and struck him so deeply that he had nothing to say in return. After a few moments of silence and stillness, he gripped her tightly, returning the hug, and started to cry. He had never had a loving family before. Now he had a safe home and a family. This moment meant everything to him.  



End file.
